Hydrangea
by Kit125
Summary: Simple things. We take them for granted and then when there switched with complications we drown in emotions. This is Charity's story. Her story starts simple and on comes the twist. Charity's childhood friend takes her someplace new. A place made to be full of anything but complications, but ..well it's complicated. Will Charity be able to save her friend's home, or will it
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Smoke. It's the first thing she remembers that morning. Thick black smoke. She looks over at her brother's bed. It's empty, why is it empty? She hurriedly gets out of her own bed. Scraping her knee she stumbles over something. Looking down she notices her sword. It had been pulled off the wall where it was kept safe. She pauses briefly before quickly picking it up off the floor.

The worn wooden floor she's known forever is barely seeable in the smoke. She looks around the small room coughing. Once she spots the window through the suffocating thickness of the smoke she runs to it. She quickly flips the wooden lock on the window and struggles at opening the window. It has to move it has to! She thought over and over struggling with the window. Finally she flips her sword and points the handle at the window. She plunges the end of the sword into the window leaving a small crack. She tries again breaking a small hole. The smoke slowly slithers through the tiny hole she created in the window.

Coughing once more she grabbed at her chest. How long had she been breathing these poisonous fumes. She lifts her nightgown to her mouth trying to control the intake of the smoke. Thats better she thought to herself. With another cough threatening to come out she takes another hit at the window. The hole was now the size of her small fist. She circles the small hole with the end of the sword. The glass now broke off much faster. When the hole was big enough she stuck her head out and took a deep refreshing breath of clean air. Bad idea, she begins violently coughing.

Retreating back into the house she covers her mouth once again as she coughs. She staggers out the last threateningly painful cough. Leaning on her brother's bed she slowly gets off the ground.

It was somewhat easier to see in the room. Although her eyes burned and begged her to shut them by flowing with tears. She still started walking toward the door over her brothers thrown sheets.

She grips the sword handle tightly with her left hand. With her free hand she wiped away the tears that seemed to stain her cheeks. The door was right in front of her when she opened her eyes once more. She reached out for the door handle.

She was stupid as soon as she touched the door handle it burned her hand. Pulling her hand back quickly she scowls at the handle. Her hand throbbed with pain as she held it against her chest. She takes multiple steps back and charges toward the door. She uses her right shoulder to burst the door open.

Instantly regretting it she howls in pain. Not only was her shoulder instantly dislocated but she came into the living room to a nightmare that had somehow turned into reality.

Her mother looked lifeless laying on the floor in the entrance to the kitchen. Her family's living room was destroyed. All of their precious memories they shared here seemed painfully far away now. Yet she hadn't given herself the time to think of the most troubling part she walked into.

Her father, her father was attacking her brother. One of her father's arms were pitch black along with half of his face. A nightmare creature her mother would tell her about to get her to take medicine. Was now holding her father captive in his own body.

She looked at her brother who was pointing his sword at his own father. Her brother looked over at her and smiled sadly and plunged the sword straight through their father's chest.

"NOOO!" She heard someone scream. To realize it was none other than herself.

Her father smiled wryly and said weakly," Thank you."

Once more she looked at her brother terrified and he slid his sword out of his father's chest with tears streaming down his face. Her brother, her twin, her best friend had killed their own father. Sure it was for a good reason but why she thought. Couldn't there be a way to save him there had to be. Right?

She fell to her knees roughly and started coughing painfully as she cried. She felt herself being wrapped in arms. Arms that were so familiar to her. Arms that had loved her and arms that have killed. She looked up at her brothers face. His sword was lying next to their father's lifeless body.

Her brother then lifted her and carried her out of the burning house. He set her on the sun warmed sand that laid as a path outside of their house. He gently laid his hand on her head and stood. When his hand left her head she put her own hand there. Her brother hastily then reentered the house.

After a moment of staring at the dark entrance of the only house she's ever known. Her brother comes back out with their mother thrown over his left shoulder. She quickly and frighteningly looks at his right hand to see his sword. It was covered almost completely in her father's blood. She chokes suddenly on tears.

She jumps slightly as her brother throws his sword down on the ground. Lightly he then sets their mother on the ground next to them.

When she looks down at her mother's seemingly and hopefully unconscious body. She notices the scenery around her for the first time. She shakingly looks up from her mother's body. Her mouth drops open. The entire town she's grown up in is on fire. Everything she's ever know was set to flames. Some of it wasn't even there anymore but merely a black mark in the ground and ashes. Sad dark grey ashes that would soon haunt her at night.

Looking at her brother from the mess and disaster surrounding them. Her eyes begin to leak tears and fast. Her brother falls to his knees in front of her and hugs her tightly. Twitching slightly when her shoulder sends pain through that she could feel in her toes. She cries into his shoulder. Trying to get the memory of this day out of head. Yet, his clothes had been soaked in the smell of the smoke and made her cry more.

"I love you Andrea," Her brother says shaking. Andrea looks up at her brothers face. It was twisted in pain, sadness, and anger.

She chokes out her response," I love you too." Tearing her fingernails into his back. She holds onto their hug as if he would be the next one taken from her


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Good night Charity," Her mother says sing song like. It makes her smile. Charity hugs her mother. It was like all the others hugs her mother had ever given to her. Charity had grown used to the nightly hugs and enjoyed them. It was like a reassurance to her. She came to see it as her mother saying," It's alright. It will always be." Without actually having to say it.

Charity sighed into her mother's shoulder breathing in her perfume. It was the same one she's always used and it suited her.

Charity let go of her mother and she did the same.

" Night Mom!" She says happily making her green eyes beam along with her smile.

Charity turns from her mother towards her bedroom door. She walks the rest of the hallway and opens the door. When she turns back around her mother had already left the hall.

She walks into her bright pink walled room and closed the door. She quickly changed into her usual pajamas. A tank top and thick grey sweat pants.

Tomorrow, thankfully, was Saturday. She was planning on going with her best friend to the park where they met to hang out. Charity was looking forward to it even if it was simple. That's what she was used to anyways. Simple things were what eased her mind, well they were simple after all.

Charity grabbed two bands and pulled back her thick brown hair. She jumped onto her small twin sized bed making the springs creak. Laying her head down she studies the view outside her window. It was the same view she gazed at every night. It was the side of her neighbors house. It was a simple view. Just a brick wall. Well there was a fence too, but ignore that fact for now. Focus on the brick wall point.

Charity crossed her arms and huffed. Was her life this boring she thought. She looked from the brick wall to the ceiling. Why do I have to look at a brick wall before I sleep!? Charity sat up and put her hands on her waist. I might as well be a brick wall I'm so boring she thought angrily to herself. Why am I getting worked up over a brick wall she wanted to scream at herself.

She sighs and turns on the lamp on her night stand. Her lamp was simple too! She pulled at her hair messing up her pony tail. Why did it make her so mad? She looked back towards the window wanting to yell at the brick wall.

Instead she looked into a familiar face. Chasity falls off her bed backwards with a loud thump. She rubbed her now sore back and stared madly at the smiling face of her dear friend.

Charity climbs back onto her bed and opens the window.

"Hey!" says Andrea happily.

Charity scowls at her and demands in a whisper," What are you doing?!"

" I don't know I thought I would just say hi." She recites rather proudly.

Charity plants her hands firm on her bed and leans toward the window screen more and says in a hushed voice," It's ten o'clock at night! Are you crazy!?" Andrea just nods making Charity groan. She looks into her friend icy blue eyes that seemed more devilish than usual.

Charity squints her eyes at her friend and asks," What?"

Andrea smiles deviously and says," Come with me."

" Are you insane!?" Charity questions.

Andrea sighs and says," I already answered that question. Now come on!" Andrea motions her head toward the backyard. Andrea moves to try and pop out the window screen.

Charity looks from her friend to the screen hastily and asks slightly panicking," W-What do you think you're doing?"

Andrea stops abruptly - looks at Charity - and explains," I'm removing the screen so you can get out."

Charity looks dead straight into Andrea's eyes and says," I don't want to!"

Andrea shrugs finally popping off the screen and says," Too bad. Come on." Charity gets off her bed sluggishly and slides her feet into her only pair of slippers. They were purple and looked like boots. Soft, fluffy, comfortable boots. Charity reluctantly looks at her window.

She gulps and climbs her bed and sticks her legs out the window. Andrea takes a step back and waits patiently. Why was she doing this she thought. She slides slowly out the window. Charity lands firmly on her feet. Which surprised her a little. Charity has always been extremely clumsy.

Back when she was younger her mother signed her up for ballet. She had done alright but when the performance came. She was with her entire dance class in front of an audience of parents and friends. During the performance she tripped over her feet. Sure it doesn't sound that bad but a little while more into the performance after tripping. She went to bow at the edge of the stage with all the other little girls in pink fluffy tutus. When she fell face first off the stage.

She has been clumsy since she can remember this was the first landing she has actually not wavered at. Surprisingly. Charity looked up at her friend who was leaning against the rickety wooden fence that separated all the houses in the neighborhood.

Andrea smiled wickedly and happily exclaims," Let's go." She breaks off in a run towards the backyard.

Charity sighs and runs after her friend. Her backyard was simply grass and a little cement when you walked out the backdoor. Uh, even the backyard was simple Charity thought. The two of them run across the grass that came up in patches across the backyard. They run until they get to the fence.

Charity smirks at Andrea and says," You didn't think this through very well did you."

" I hope you're good at jumping," She says shooting Charity a terrifying grin. Charity watches her friend lift herself over the fence like it was an everyday thing.

Charity puts her hands in front of her like it would protect her and stutters," W-what, H-how huh!? H-Hey you can't just leave me here!"

" I know. Now jump over and stop yelling!"

" You can't talk you just yelled!"

" Just get over here."

"Why should I?" Charity questions crossing her arms across her chest.

" Please we, I mean I need you," Andrea pleas sounding near tears.

" You do realize you're asking me to jump or climb over a six foot fence."

" Yes."

Charity sighs and attempts climbing the fence. She grabs the top while standing on the tips of her toes. She slowly lifts herself to sitting on the top of the fence. Charity looks down to see Andrea staring up at her beaming with delight. Charity frowns and looks at the ground. She gulps and realizes how much she's afraid of heights.

Andrea smiles reassuringly and says," Come on."

Charity shaking her head she tightens her grip on the fence and says," This is crazy! Your crazy!"

" I know, I know. Now stop freaking out before you wake up the entire neighborhood," Andrea warns.

Charity takes a deep breath and pushes herself off the top of the creaking fence. She held her eyes closed as she felt the ground get placed beneath her. The fall stung her feet from the lack of support in her slippers. Charity slowly opened her eyes. She didn't fall she cheerfully thought! She smiled brightly once again bringing it into her smile making it seem as if her green eyes glowed.

Andrea whoops and says," See it's not that hard."

Charity stops and says," Wait why are you so happy about that?"

" Well I mean you're not the most well coordinated person."

" What did you think that I would fall and break my arm?!"

" More like twist your ankle and break your nose," Andrea corrects with a shrug.

Charity tilts her head slightly while looking at Andrea and says," Wow, thank you."

" Your welcome. Isn't it great to have a friend who thinks so highly of you?"

" Yeah sure."

" Oh, come on. You can't say you didn't expect to land the way you did."

Charity crosses her arms and says," Whatever. Where were you taking me anyway?"

" Oh yeah!" Andrea exclaims remembering.

Charity's mouth drops and asks," Did you seriously forget that just a second ago?!"

Andrea smiles innocently and says," Don't ask so many questions. Now let's go!" She takes off running again. Charity sighs at her friend watching her black hair swing back and forth. She starts running after her friend in the gravel covered ally. Charity follows Andrea not paying any mind to where they were actually heading. They ran three blocks before Andrea stopped abruptly.

Charity was breathing hard trying to catch her breath. Andrea put her hand on Charity's shoulder.

Charity looks up at her and questions," Since when did you become a track star?"

Andrea laughs and says," I'll tell you later."

Charity looks in front of them to see the play ground where Andrea first approached Charity. She smiles and walks to the old equipment surrounded by long grass. It was a beat-up wooden and metal slide and monkey bars. That was it. Yet, it was still cherished deeply by the two of them.

Charity runs her hand down the cold metal slide. Etched into the side of it is a heart with two letters in it. The remainder of so many long and short love stories were etched into this broken-down equipment. Other stories existed here as well but were all but few long forgotten. Although it made this park what it was. It was a memory of what once was or used to be. Which seemed to be neglected by too many people.

Andrea smiles and says," Oh if this park could talk."

" I can't imagine it would ever stop talking," Charity utters with a small sigh.

Andrea closes her eyes and says," I can't wait to show you."

" Huh? Show me what?"

Andrea walks to the hydrangea plants that cover a small corner of the park. She stops in front of the biggest bush of the group.

Charity silently studies the bush trying to imagine what was about to happen. Was there a dead animal. No, no that's too dark for Andrea. Was it a present! No that's ridiculous why would she put it in a bush. What is she going on about? It's just a bush!

Charity looks at Andrea and says," What? I've seen this bush a thousand times."

Andrea smiles and says," Ready?"

" For what?! What am I needing to get ready for!?"

" I'm about to show you the place where everything good belongs. Everything innocent, kind, and pure."

Charity studies her friends face and says," What!? Is there a bunch of virgins in the bush or something?!"

Andrea laughs and says," Just trust me and I will explain everything when we get there."

Charity takes a step back and says," You're freaking me out!"

Andrea lightly touches her friends arm. It is covered in goose bumps. She would be nervous too if she heard that as well. Yet, she needed Charity badly. Charity wouldn't understand what's happening. My home is being destroyed slowly. Hydrangea was falling to ruins and it, they needed her help.

Charity looks into Andrea's icy eyes filled with hope, and something she never wanted to see in her friend's eyes. She saw sadness. Pure and heart wrenching sorrow. Charity felt the urge to help her. She didn't want to look into Andrea's eyes and have to see that there again.

" Okay. I trust you."

Andrea's smile is filled with possibilities as she says," Thank you." Andrea pulls Charity towards her and together they fall into the stunningly purple hydrangeas.

Charity's vision goes black but she feels a warmth surround her like her mother's hug and an appealing sweet smell. It all felt so reassuring.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

My eyes feel heavy, my head is spinning, and I am lying on something extremely uncomfortable. Then I begin to hear voices that sound far away.

" Are you kidding me!"

" What! Do you have a problem with her?!"

" She isn't fey! I told you we needed another faery!"

" How was I supposed to know she was a nymph!?"

" I don't know how about the fact that she sings!"

" Look nymphs sing AND dance! She is the least graceful person I've ever met."

" You have to take her back."

" No! Would you just listen to me."

" Fine. I'm listening."

" Look nymphs are half fey so she could still fight like one."

" Whatever, fine."

" Yeah! Now let's take her to mom before it gets too dark."

Charity slightly opens her eyes to see two tall figures. One of their voices sounds very familiar. The other voice doesn't remind her of any one she knows.

The taller one scoffs and says," Looks like she's already awake. Spares us from having to carry her."

Charity in a fit of trying to protect herself stands up quickly and starts throwing punches into the space in front of her. She hits nothing and opens her eyes.

There is a guy to her right. He has jet black hair that shines in the remainder of sunlight. She notices his eyes next. They were the color of a clear blue sky. Even if they did strike her as beautiful they looked completely emotionless.

" What did you say about her fighting like a fey?" He says seeming more than slightly annoyed.

" We are not taking her back!" Cries the other voice.

Charity looks to her left in almost a daze. She finds Andrea standing there. Andrea smiles at her disorientated friend happily.

" You did just see what I saw right? It was extremely pathetic. She didn't even have her eyes open!" He says stating the obvious.

Charity crosses her arms and says," I am right here just so you guys know."

He glares at her and says," No."

Andrea throws her arms up in the air and demands," Oh, why not!"

" Do you see her?" He questions motioning his hand up and down at Charity.

" Yes," Andrea mutters letting her arms fall to her sides.

" One she is shorter than the two of us. Two she doesn't have any experience in fighting. Three just, just no," He states clearly over the entire conversation.

Andrea plants her feet firm while she leans in and says," One who cares if she's short, she can just sneak around better. Two it's very easy to learn things in somebody's true nature when they come here and you know that. Three I don't care what you say she stays."

He brings two fingers to each of his temples slowly rubbing them and says," You know what fine, but-BUT if she messes up it's on you."

Andrea jumps happily and says," Thanks your the best brother!"

Charity's mouth falls open and says pointing at him," He's your brother."

Andrea turns back to Charity and says," Twin brother, yes."

Charity looks back and forth from the tall siblings slowly realizing there resemblances and utters," You know what that makes a lot of sense."

He slowly drags his hand down his face and says," This is going to be every moment with her isn't it."

Andrea nods at her brother and says," This is Ryker by the way." Charity waves at him but he just stares at her. She stops waving.

" I'm sure you have a ton of questions about what's going on but you'll just have to wait a bit longer," Andrea announces calmly to Charity.

Charity nods and says," Okay I understand, but may I ask just one question?"

Ryker sighs and motions with his hand for her to ask so she does," Where are we?!"

Andrea smiles with a gentle sweetness in her eyes and says," Right! Charity welcome to Hydrangea."

Charity looks at her surroundings noticing little lights hanging from the trees. The trees that covered most of the area were all tall and twisted making them easy to climb. On the ground in patches was grass that seemed to glow like the hanging lights. There was even little lightning bug like things floating around in the air.

Charity holds her finger out to one when it lands on her finger. She then feels a sharp pain in her finger. She pulls it back and looks angrily at the floating light.

Ryker laughs and says," Those are pixies and the trees are carrying their homes."

Andrea snickers as well and says," They can be very feisty. Although some of them are actually very delightful. You just decided to poke the wrong one."

Ryker sighs and says," Oh, maybe this won't be so bad after all."

Charity hears a strange sound and looks at Andrea who is pointing a dagger at her.

Charity jumps at the sight of the sharp silver and says," Don't Kill Me!"

Andrea tilts her head in bewilderment and asks," What?"

" And this now sucks again," Ryker states once again annoyed.

Sighing Andrea says," This is for you to protect yourself with."

"Why would I need to protect myself?" Charity questions.

Andrea sighs again and says," Just take it and I'll answer as many questions as you want when we get to my mother's house."

Charity slowly grabs the small dagger and says," Okay."

Ryker turns his back towards them and says," It's this way."

" Wait," Andrea takes off a small sheath from her belt and puts it in Charity's pocket. Charity puts her new dagger into the sheath that fit perfectly in her baggy sweat pants. Finally noticing what she's wearing she looks at the nice guard like outfits and belts the twins were wearing.

" Um, am I just gonna walk around in these?" Charity asks trying to shrink down into her body like a turtle.

" Unless you want to walk around in the nude, I would suggest you keep those on," Andrea replies.

" O-okay, I want to keep them on," Charity stutters.

Andrea smiles and says reassuringly," Don't worry I should have some clothes that'll fit you."

Charity looks up at Andrea and says," Thanks."

" Would you two be quiet," Ryker snaps at them.

Andrea smiles at her brother and says," Oh, you like the extra noise."

Ryker turns to his sister and smiles the same smile she had on plaster on her face and says," Yeah, right."

Charity laughs at the two of them and says," I wish I had an older brother."

Ryker frowns and Andrea laughs saying," I'm older than he is."

Ryker turns away from his sister and says," Only by a measly three minutes."

Andrea turns to Charity and says," He's so cute isn't he."

" Hey I am not cute!" Ryker declares turning back towards the two.

Andrea close the distance between her and her brother and pinches his cheeks while she says," Oh but you are!"

Ryker's face lights up with embarrassment and states," I am anything but cute!"

" You're right you're adorable!" Andrea screams wrapping her arms around Ryker suffocating him with a tight hug.

Charity coughs and says," Um, guys has the air gotten thicker?"

Andrea stops hugging her brother and takes a deep breath which resorts in coughs and says," We have to leave," Charity hesitates not knowing what to do.

" Now!" Andrea says grabbing Charity's hand and begins running. Charity is forced to keep up. While running she notices how much lighter on her feet she is here.

Charity looks forward to see Ryker ahead of them. He had run ahead of the two while Andrea was dragging Charity. Charity sees him holding a long sword chopping away some of the shrub and branches that would have gotten in the way of the two.

They run until Charity thought her legs were going to fall off or her lungs would fail. Andrea pulls to a stop. Charity tries to stop by planting her feet the way Andrea had. Charity plants her feet into the loose dirt. Her slippers make her slip onto the ground with a thud.

Andrea takes a few deep breathes and asks" You guys good."

" Yeah, I'm fine," Ryker answers.

Charity sits up making a small grunt at the twinge of pain and responds," Um, I on the other hand could be much better." The twins look down at her and then back up at each other.

" How many did you think were there?" Andrea asks.

Ryker thinks for a second and says," Judging by the state of the air. I would say maybe eight or eleven at the most."

Andrea curses under her breath and says," That's five more than yesterday."

Ryker shifts his weight onto his right leg and asks," Do you think they can multiply themselves?"

Andrea shakes her head and says," No, otherwise there would have been much more by now. I mean this has been happening for a long time."

" True," Ryker says with a nod.

Charity slowly gets off the ground ignoring the way her backend seems to be throbbing. She wipes away the dirt and slight amount of mud off her sweatpants and tanktop.

"So what exactly did we run from?" Charity asks the two of them.

Andrea sighs and says," What we ran from is the reason we brought you here."

Charity squints her eyes and says," That didn't exactly answer my question."

" It did, just not the way you wanted it to," Ryker states.

Charity frowns lightly and says," Fine, what were they?"

Andrea shifts her weight from side to side and says," You know what demons, ghouls, and anything that has never been in human form are right?"

Charity nods and says," Yeah, I guess."

" Well only people who have been here know how to get here. Like you've never been here until now but now if you leave you can come back whenever you please. I was able to get you here because I was born here, I've been here. The only two things different from us and them is that if they leave they can't come back unless there brought again, and they only want destruction," Andrea tries to explain the best to her ability.

Ryker nods and says," That's why you're here to help find who is bringing them in."

Andrea looks at her brother and says," If we can rid of that person we get rid of them."

Charity absorbs all this new information and says," That doesn't really explain why you need me though. What am I supposed to do?!"

"We need a third person so if one of us gets, well killed. We kind of have a replacement," Andrea says with a grim expression on her face.

Charity shakes her head and says," What if both of you-"

Ryker nods and says," Then you leave as soon as possible."

Charity looks at him and asks," I just give up?"

Andrea nods at her question and says," Everyone else has fled Hydrangea. We are the only ones who could possibly save this place."

"Alright!" Charity says with enthusiasm.

Ryker looks down at her and says," What?"

Charity smiles at the two of them and says hopeful," Then let's go kick some butt!" She punches the air mimicking her own actions.

Andrea laughs at her friend and says encouragingly," That's the spirit!"

Ryker shrugs and says," You seem to pretty excited to be bait."

Charity's smile is quickly replaced with terror and asks," What?"

Ryker smiles and says," Well that's what you will be until we need to be replaced."

Andrea crosses her arms and says coldly at her brother," She is not bait."

Ryker shrugs and says," Whatever you say."

Andrea rolls her eyes stopping them as she looks up at the sky and says," We need to get home soon."

Ryker and Andrea start running to the right leaving Charity. Charity looks from them to her shoes and kicks them off. Charity begins running after the twins. When her feet hit the ground below it doesn't hurt at all, but feels almost natural.

Ryker slows down to run next to Charity.

Charity surprised looks up at him and Ryker says," You're definitely bait." Charity sticks her tongue out at him as he runs ahead of her once again. Charity watches the two of them slowly get farther in front of her. She pushes her legs to run faster. Charity breathes harder until she's finally in between the two. They both look at her and abruptly stop running. Charity looks back at them and sees Andrea yell something but can't seem to make it out until she runs straight into something hard and tall.

Charity groans in pain and slides down the object she ran into.

Andrea and Ryker jog to Charity who is pressed up against the tree she just tried to tackle.

Charity looks up at the two who then turn into twenty four and says," Am I dying?"

Ryker sighs and says," Andrea told you there was a tree."

Charity pulls her face off the tree and looks at it almost bewildered and says," Oh, sorry." Charity smiles innocently.

Andrea facepalms her forehead making a loud smack noise and says," There isn't any need to apologize. Now come on let's get you up." Andrea puts Charity's nearly limp arm around her shoulder and gently lifts her up. Andrea slouches due to the height difference between them but doesn't care.

"There we go," Andrea says holding up one side of her friend.

Charity still sways woozily but says," I'm fine."

Andrea squints studying Charities face and states," You are obviously not."

"I'm okay."

"Okay, then why are you circling your arm in the air."

"It's fun," Charity says while she watches her arm swing in the air.

Andrea shakes her head and says," No, it's because you are still off balance."

Charity looks from her arm to up at Andrea and says," Oh."

Ryker sighs long and loud before saying," Are you really going to make me put up with her."

Andrea turns her head to look at Ryker and says," Respect your elders."

Rolling his eyes Ryker says," You use that phrase too much. Plus she is technically two months younger than the both of us"

"Are you trying to be difficult?" Andrea asks trying to help her friend walk.

"Yes," Ryker answers.

Andrea rolls her eyes and says," Be quiet." Ryker shakes his head at her.

Charity looks up from her feet on the ground to see a wooden cottage a few feet in front of her. It was on a platform about six inches off the ground. The platform was also used as a front porch. It looked old and worn down.

Charity smiles and says," Lovely."

The twins look at her and Andrea says with a smile," Thank you."

Ryker looks at the cottage and back at Charity and says," Out of all the words you could choose from you chose lovely."

Charity nods and says," Well you grew up here soo..."

Ryker looks back at the house and repeats," Soo?"

Charity smiles at him and says," So there is a lot of memories inside of the home. No matter how rough it looks there's so much more on the inside."

Andrea laughs lightly and says," That's one way to put it, and a _lovely_ one at that."

Charity stands up a little straighter and lets go of Andrea and says," I think I can walk on my own now."

Andrea smiles a twinge of worry still on her face and says," Alright." She stays next to Charity's side as she walks towards the house. They step up onto the front porch creating a small creaking sound. Charity squinted at the sound below her feet; she didn't want to fall anymore then she had that night. Even if it only was six inches.

Ryker takes a step in front of the two opening the door. He walks inside and lets the screen door shut behind him leaving the main door open. Andrea and Charity exchange a look before looking back at him.

Andrea and Charity enter the small home. They follow Ryker through the kitchen into what seemed to be a petite living room.

Andrea turns toward the back of the house and yells," Mom, were home!" There was no following reply.

Ryker turns to Andrea and says," She must be in her knitting room."

Andrea nods turning to Charity saying," You're going to love her!"

Charity smiles at her and asks," Is her knitting room in the back of the house?"

Andrea nods and says," Yep, it used to be our grandmamas room."

Charity frowns and says," Oh sorry."

Andrea shrugs and says," It's alright. Anyway, this was her house but she gave it to our mother."

Ryker nods and says," Now it's a knitting room."

Andrea laughs and says," More like bunker."

Charity looks confused and asks," Is it underground?"

Andrea shakes her head and answers," No, but when you're in there it's hard to hear anything else happening in the house."

Charity nods looking around the worn furniture in the living space.

She turns to a scratch noise to see Andrea lighting a match. Andrea takes the match and lights one of the candles in the room. Except this one is in a brass holder with a handle.

Andrea picks it up holding it in front of herself and says," Come on."

They enter a hallway that after going two feet turns to the right. On the left side of the hallway was two doors. We followed the hallway to take a left. There was a closed door on the right and an open door allowing light to stream into the hallway at the end of the left side.

Andrea looked at her brother slightly confused and turns toward the room. She takes a few steps and looks into the room.

The area around them some how seems to freeze. Andrea has stopped moving, her expression blank. Her shoulders sag and knees weaken.

Andrea's mouth opens and barely chokes out in a whisper," Mom?"

I walk towards Andrea but she turns towards us and frowns.

" So much for good memories, huh Charity," Andrea says as a single tear streams down her cheek.

"What?" Charity asks and steps to Andrea's left looking into the small room.

" Oh no, Andrea, I'm," Charity says silently turning toward her friend. Who was now in her brother's arm soaking his shirt. Her cry's are muffled by his chest. The sound of them wrenches Charity's heart. Charity turns away and looks back at the horrific sight.

"It-it'll be okay," Ryker chokes out trying to soothe his sister.

In the room was a small desk pressed up against the back wall fitting perfectly center. On the sides of the desk were boxes. In the left box was yarn, in the right were differently sized metal and wooden knitting needles. The desk had a matching chair that was facing the door. It was what was in the chair that had made the cute room seem sinister.

It was their mother. She was sitting slouched in the desk chair. In her chest was a bloodied metal needle. It wasn't the only one. Their was another one in the left side of her skull. There was a blotch of blood on the white blouse she was wearing and a stream of her blood down the left side of her face. Her bleach blonde hair was stained pink and red where the needle was. On the ground to her right is the scarf she was knitting splattered in blood ruining the perfect white yarn. Her face was the worst part, she was smiling sadly. Thankfully, though, her eyes were closed.

Charity switched her attention to the message painted on the wall. It was written in big bloody letters that seemed to still be dripping down the green floral wallpaper.

It reads," Welcome home."


	4. Chapter 3

Charity is sitting on the old worn couch in the living room. Doing as she was told. Charity sits still watching the fire place. The logs burn steadily as flames moving back and forth in a methodical dance.

Ryker was calming down Andrea, at least that's what she assumed. Last Charity saw he was carrying Andrea to her room. Andrea was having a break down. Who wouldn't after seeing what was in that room. Charity shivers at the thought of ever having to see her own mother that way.

Charity immediately pushes the thought out of her head with a grimace. She pulls the thick blanket she had been gripping with her hands over her shoulders. Charity snuggles into the blanket rubbing the soft fabric on her face.

She hears muffled voices coming from the direction of the hall. Charity can't seem to make any of it out. At least the sobbing has stopped, and Andrea has calmed down more.

"Is it worth it, Andrea, is it worth all this?" Charity straightens and looks in the direction of the hall at the sound of Ryker's voice.

"It better be," Andrea says stiffly. Charity frowns.

She misses her mother's perfume, she misses her lamp, her view of the brick wall, her slippers. Her feet are cold. Charity misses - for once - the fact that everything used to be so simple.

Yet, she feels like she has to be here. For Andrea, and Andrea's mother. That Charity never got to rightfully meet. Charity thinks to herself and promises silently to Andrea. I can't do much right now, but I can and I will be there for you. Just don't spill any more tears, please.

Charity looks back at the flames that sway from side to side. A hypnotizing warmth spread over the room,but it didn't reach her feet. She rubs her feet with the blanket but stops at the sound of a creak.

Charity turns her head to see the twins standing at the turn of the hallway. Charity gives the two a warm, sincere smile.

Andrea smiles back at her but it doesn't reach her eyes, which are red and puffy. She walks to one of the tattered arm chairs next to the couch.

"I-" Charity starts but is stopped by Andrea holding up her hand.

"Please, hold the apologies. It wasn't your fault…it wasn't," Andrea states sadly.

Charity nods and Andrea continues, "I'll be taking you back in the morning. Don't worry the time works differently between Hydrangea and the natural world. Every day here is simply an hour there, so you'll be fine."

Ryker looks from Andrea to Charity and says, "We decided that we'll do this on our own. We won't drag you into this huge mess."

Charity looks at them like they were deranged and states, "Are you two stupid?!" Their solemn expressions changed into one full of wrath and irritation.

Ryker leans forward and says menacingly, "Excuse me."

Charity looks him dead in the eye and says, "I'm sorry about your mother, really, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to leave. I want to help!"

Andrea snickers at Charity, but it still comes out painfully sad, and says, "You always have wanted nothing but to be kind."

Ryker turns to his sister with a really look and asks, "Kind?"

Andrea looks at her brother and says snidely, "Well you never exactly gave her a reason to be. You're not exactly approachable or even deserving of it."

Ryker rubs his right hand down his face and says, "This is ridiculous."

Charity giggles and says, "I don't want to leave, at least not right now. Okay?"

Andrea smiles sadly and replies, "Alright."

Ryker sighs and says, "Fine, but we will have to tell her everything."

"Right," Andrea agrees nodding her head. Ryker leans against the wall behind the chair Andrea is currently seated at.

Charity leans forward slightly as Andrea begins, "Well it started a few years ago, merely weeks before I met you. I was sleeping but woke up to smoke surrounding me, and enveloping me." Andrea explains sadly and graphically about the morning they lost their father, and their home. Ryker scowls when she explains.

Charity swallows forcefully taking in the traumatic story.

I never knew that this had ever even occurred. Every time Andrea had come over, she had seen my family. Did it hurt, did she hate me for it? She's not like that. Never has been, or is she? She seems to be able to hide this much without even flinching. No, Andrea's my friend and has been as open as she could've been. Right?

Charity's emerald eyes are downcast watching the fire flicker and whirl as she stammers, "I- I don't know what to say."

Andrea nods knowingly and responds, "You don't have to." Charity looks up at her friend who had tears in her eyes. Making the icy blue in her eyes blurry and darker like an oncoming storm.

"Andrea," Charity murmurs softly.

Ryker studies the tattered floorboards, a mournful expression on his face. His shoulders sagging and his hands hanging at his sides. Andrea looks back at him and then back at Charity.

"After that happened, we went to live in this cottage with our grand mama. It was my mother who began looking for the person who led all those things here. Who killed her husband. My mother used to travel all over Hydrangea following leads; but she soon grew very sick and couldn't do it anymore. So we took it upon ourselves to continue, but we knew we would need another person for help," Andrea explains gesturing to Charity.

Charity nods and says, "Is there anything else?"

Andrea shakes her head and Ryker finally speaks, "That depends."

They both look at him and Charity asks, "On what?"

Ryker glances up at her and replies, "If you have anymore questions."

Andrea scans Charity and says, "Is there anything else you would like to know?"

Charity inspects her hands as she twists the blanket and says, "How do you do it?"

Andrea glances at Charity's hands and says, "Emotions change so quickly. So, there isn't any point on staying focused on the negative ones for so long."

Charity glances up at Andrea to see a troubled expression painted on her face. She stops twisting the blanket and stands. The twins stare up at her. Charity takes a big step forward and wraps her arms around Andrea enveloping her in a tight hug.

Andrea gasps at the sudden movement and touch. She lays limp in Charity's arms for a moment before she grabs tightly onto Charity. It was like clutching onto a bright light in a sea of darkness saving her from drowning. Then that sea began to stir and spill but it fled out through Andrea's eyes.

Ryker stood up straight and walked out the front door noiselessly. Andrea looks up from Charity's now soaked shoulder and watches the door shut as silently as when he left.

Charity slowly stroked Andrea's back as the sea in her eyes calmed. Andrea pulls out of the warm hug and wipes her eyes with the heels of her hand.

She sniffles and says, "You should probably rest."

Charity nods smiling and states, "I'm not the only one. Make sure you sleep as well."

Andrea nods and stands walking towards the door to track down her brother.

She silently mutters to herself under her breath, "If I could."


	5. Chapter 4

Andrea examines her brother for a moment. He was sitting on the edge of the porch watching everything and nothing. While he was thinking, his mind was blank. His face straight but also twisted with emotion.

Andrea takes a step forward, and then another. She let herself fall to the ground on her feet when she stepped off the porch. She sat down still not getting even a flinch from Ryker. He normally doesn't let his emotions show too much. Andrea felt somehow responsible for the state he was in. She had been calmed and soothed by him earlier, but what did she do in return? Nothing. Ryker wasn't the kind of person who always wanted something in return, but right now she could tell he needed her.

She wraps her right arm around him. He looks at her nearly instantly snapping out of the trance he put himself in. His eyes were distant and the sky blue in them looked almost confused. Ryker leans his head on Andrea's resting it there. They remain silent for a few minutes just looking at the scenery in front of them.

"Are you sure?" Ryker asks quietly.

Andrea looks down at her legs and questions, "Of what?"

Ryker lifts his head off of hers and clarifies, "Of her?"

"Yes," Andrea states without wavering. There's a long moment of silence between the two, before it's broken.

Ryker nods and pulls something out of his pocket saying, "I found this."

Andrea looks at the worn paper that had been folded too many times. It was stripped from its normal white coloring to a tan from weathering.

She slowly reaches out to it but stops herself and asks, "Where did you get it?"

Ryker looks at her solemnly and Andrea nods. It was their mother's.

He sets it in the space between them. It was folded into a perfect square, she was a perfectionist. Andrea skims her finger down the side of it closest to her. It was still, as it should be, but for some reason Andrea felt like it would jump out at her.

She lifted it carefully, gently. Not wanting to ruin the ancient looking paper. With the same sense of carefulness of when she lifted it, she began to open it.

With a deep breath she undid the last fold.

In the top right corner in a fine print was Adora Rille, their mother's name. In her exquisite handwriting. Andrea's eyes move to the center of the paper.

At Sapphire Lake beneath the water is where they lay. Still almost lifeless waiting for their prey. Do not waver, do not fall in. For if you do I will have no more children. Stay safe my darlings because beneath it you will find the one who stole your father's heart, soul, and mind.

Andrea continues to repeatedly read the paragraph. Ryker notices this and puts his hand lightly on top of the words.

Andrea opens her mouth then shuts it and Ryker says, "I know."

She shakes her head and says, "Her last lead was in the village, not Sapphire Lake."

Ryker nods and says, "It does make some sense though."

"How?" Andrea pleads wanting something to make sense, needing something to make sense.

"Well do you remember how it used to be the most engaging blue color but then turned into a murky gray?" Ryker asks.

Andrea nods and says, "It seemed like a crime to ruin its beauty and richness, but that was then."

Ryker nods and states, "Yes, but the gray might be them. They could be covering-"

"Covering what? Someplace underwater! You and me both know Mom searched those waters many times, but what good did that do?!" Andrea demands for an explanation.

Ryker looks at the ground and says softly, "You know it's possible though."

Andrea stands and says distantly, "Fine, we'll go. I suppose this might have been written while she was sick."

Ryker frowns and adds, "She did get sick from searching the lake."

Andrea nods and says, "We'll get ready in the morning. I wouldn't get your hopes up though."

Ryker smiles and says, "That's your habit not mine."

"I'm starting to find it more of a curse than anything," Andrea murmurs turning towards the front door.

Andrea walks soundlessly back into the house.

Upon entering she finds Charity sleeping restlessly. She was turning back and forth on the shabby couch causing a creak every now and then.

Andrea frowned at her friend as she takes numerous steps toward the hall. Andrea rests her hand on the wall and takes one last look at Charity. You better not leave me too she thought before slipping into the hall.

Charity stirs in her sleep fighting to keep a nightmare away. She loses.

 _It was as if she was floating but it was dark and everything around her felt tight. She opens her eyes to see a resounding nothingness around her. Below her is an even darker abyss, but above her was light. She realizes she was in water. It seemed thicker than anything else she's been in before. Realizing the pressure around her was from the water she began trying to swim towards the surface. With every stroke over arms and legs she seems to drift farther and farther down. Into the pitch-black void. Her lungs began to burn with the demand for air. She couldn't stop herself from inhaling. It was then she knew she wouldn't reach the surface or anything else besides the bottom of this black pit, if it had one. She continuously chokes and chokes on the water. She feels it filling her lungs. Bit by bit she feels herself slipping away with each traumatic cough that always ends with another inhale of water. Then suddenly it all stopped. She could see herself limp in the darkness slowly floating down._


	6. Chapter 5

Charity sits up hastily, sweat beading along her hairline. She's breathes heavily choking on nothing while grabbing at her chest. Her hands clammy, finally relax into her lap after realizing her lungs weren't overflowing with water. Charity coughs one last time realizing how startlingly dry her mouth is.

She runs the back of her arm across her forehead taking the cold sweat with it. Charity takes a moment to get her mouth back to normal. Licking her rough chapped lips, her stomach growls like a ravenous animal.

Andrea takes a step into the living room to see Charity's back. She was under the impression that she would still be asleep.

Andrea knocks on the wall making Charity turn around startled. She smiles at her friend who's hair is sticking out in every direction.

"I almost forgot how thick your hair was," Andrea says walking into the kitchen.

Charity reaches her hand up to feel the back of her head. As soon as she touches the mess of tangles she flattens it down with her hands. Charity combs through her chocolate brown hair with her small fingers.

Andrea laughs and says, "It looks fine."

Charity smiles weakly and asks, "Did you sleep at all?"

Andrea looks at the floor with her back to Charity and lies, "Like a log."

Charity nods rather proudly and says, "Good."

Andrea turns to look at Charity and says, "How about you? How did you sleep?"

"I slept alright I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yeah."

"Hmh."

"What?"

"You suck at lying."

"What?!"

"You just suck at lying."

"I do not!" Charity states.

"Oh, why are you getting so defensive?" Andrea questions with a smirk.

Charity crosses her arms staring at the wall in front of her and says, "No reason."

Andrea laughs as she grabs some fruit out of the cupboard. Charity slowly turns glaring in Andrea's direction. She smiles while throwing a pink penny sized berry into her mouth.

Charity's stomach grumbles again but louder this time making Andrea snicker lightly.

"Come here, these should be safe for you to eat," Andrea says holding out a small bunch of pink berries.

Charity squints at Andrea cautiously and asks, "Should? I don't really like that sentence."

Andrea nods and says, "Well, for some you have to get used to being in Hydrangea first before you can eat."

"Why?" Charity asks confused.

Andrea throws the bunch in the air and lets it fall back into her hand before she says, "If you eat the stronger ones you can get really sick and even bed ridden."

Charity nods now suddenly skeptical about eating and says, "You know what? I think I'm fine."

Andrea rolls her eyes and says, "Come on this is the most recommended fruit for newcomers."

Charity looks up at her friend now skeptical of her and questions, "Recommended by who?"

Sighing Andrea answers, "Back before everything went crazy a lot of people would come here. So, a herbalist who had studied the edible plants made a list. The good and the bad. The good new arrivals could eat, the bad they couldn't."

Charity nods once more looking at the pink berries. They did look really good, but at the same time they also could make her very sick. Charity sighs and gets off the couch and walks around to the kitchen.

Andrea holds out her right hand that has a bunch of pink berries on it. Charity grabs off one of the berries. She twirls the small berry around in her fingers. It almost looks like a pearl she thought.

Charity closes her eyes firmly. She pops the fruit into her mouth, and starts to chew.

The sweet sugary taste explodes in her mouth with every chew sending a warm feeling throughout her body. Charity swallows and opens her eyes, widening them in shock at the taste of the sweet fruit. Andrea's eyebrow arches, questioning Charity's thoughts.

"Well?" Andrea asks, the eyebrow still raised.

"It's tastes magnificent!" Charity exclaims brightly with a smile that made her whole face light up. Charity grabs the bunch from Andrea's hand and pops three more into her mouth. The sugary fruit exploding in her mouth sent the same warm sensation through her body again. She hums appreciatively.

Charity looks at Andrea to see her face solemn. Andrea notices the new attention and plasters on a fake smile.

"You should go home," Andrea says wiping the smile off revealing a glower.

"I'm not going home until your's is safe," Charity states firmly.

Andrea looks up surprised at the tone of her voice and says, "You're an idiot."

Charity smiles warmly and says, "Yeah, but that makes you laugh so its alright."

Andrea shakes her head with a small chuckle and says, "You're lucky you're right."

"I know, I know," Charity says eating the last few berries in her hand.

"If you're not going home I should probably tell you where we're going," Andrea says quietly looking down at the counter.

"Where?" Charity asks curious.

Andrea puts her pointer finger in air and says, "Wait a sec." Andrea leaves the room exiting back into the dark hallway. After a minute she reemerges from the hall with a large piece of folded paper.

She sets it on the counter and begins unfolding it. Revealing a map beautifully drawn and painted in graceful strokes. The black paint was old and faded on the paper that was equal in age.

Andrea points to the center of the map and says, "This is Fey Village; It's where Ryker and I were born." She smiles at the center of the map before pointing to the left of the village.

"This is the Radiate Forest; where the pixies live," Andrea explains.

"That's where we are, right?" Charity asks quietly.

Andrea nods moving her finger to point to the right side of the village and says, "Over here you have the Flora Forest; where the nymphs used to be," Andrea says in a grave tone.

Charity looks up at Andrea and asks, "Used to?"

Andrea sighs and says, "That's the first place they took over, then the water, then home." She points again at the village drawn on the map.

"You're a nymph," Andrea says looking at Charity sadly and continues, "The nymphs moved into Radiate Forest to live with the pixies, but they never did get along well. So, they left."

Charity with a surprised expression on her face asks, "They just left."

Andrea nods solemnly and says, "So did the merfolk, and my friends."

"Sorry, but, did you just say MERFOLK?" Charity asks oddly happy.

Andrea points to the north of the village and clarifies, "Yeah, this here is Sapphire Lake. Where the merfolk would dwell."

Charity points to the south of the village where the smallest portion of paint laid and inquires, "What's this area?"

"That's the grassland, were we would grow our crops, before they burnt everything down," Andrea says with a furious sounding tone.

"Huh," Charity says taking in the map knowing all the names now. Her eyes stop on Flora Forest. Where the nymphs used to be. I wonder what it's like, or what it was like before.

Andrea and Charity turn to the hallway at the sound of footsteps. They see Ryker step into the living room with a body wrapped in linens. The two of them watch him and every step he takes. The only noises are the floor creaking and his feet hitting the floor. The air is stiff and dry as Ryker gets closer. He carefully holds their mother's body as he continues walking towards the door inch by inch. As he grows closer Charity spots a single white daisy laying on the chest of the frail body.

Ryker holds the corpse of the person with one arm as he goes to open the front door. He carries his mother to the left side of the house encased in silence.

Andrea's hands are in fists making her knuckles white. She keeps her tears in with the physical pain. Charity puts her hands on Andrea's with a concerned expression on her face. Andrea flattens her hands underneath Charity's. Though the pain is gone there are still half moons in her skin from her fingernails. Charity grabs Andrea's left hand with her right and pulls the both of them towards the door, toward the inevitable.

They follow the sound to the left of the house. There they see Ryker digging into the soft dirt. The body lays peacefully, with her face looking up through the trees into the stunningly endless aqua sky.

"Daisies are her favorite," Andrea chokes out quietly. They silently watch as Ryker digs the length of a hole in front of countless elegant flowers. Some new and young, but others old and wilting. A rose petal falls from the bush and slowly floats gracefully onto the face of the wrapped figure.

Charity walks and grabs the second shovel leaning conveniently on the side of the house. She turns and walks toward Ryker, who doesn't pause a second. Charity sticks the shovel forcefully into the ground and lifts it up using what strength she has. She lets the soil tumble off the shovel and onto the small pile Ryker has started.

As the soil rolls off Andrea falls painfully to her knees sniffling. Her eyes surprisingly dry considering the scene in front of her. Andrea looks over at the body of her mother that's covered in white sheets. Something in her heart dies every time she looks at it. Every time her eyes wander to it. It, ha Andrea thought, never thought I would see this day so soon. Andrea looks down at her chest expecting to see something from the stabbing pain she gets at the sight of it. Of Mom.

Charity and Ryker slowly lower the corpse of what once was into the hole they dug together. They shovel the dirt into the hole. Slowly bit by bit covering the bright white that had become the encasement for the lost.

"Here in her garden, her most treasured spot. Is where she will sleep," Ryker says so quietly it was as if the wind had carried the words around them.


	7. Chapter 6

Andrea sits on her mother's bed. Taking in the scent she used to wear, that was what she smelt every time she walked into the room. It used to be so inviting, now it was nothing more than agonizing torture. The sweet scent wraps around her and tickles her nose with its scent. Yet, it sends memories through her mind. She wallows in the scent and her own misery.

Andrea stands and walks to the oak dresser. On top was a colored glass box. Andrea unlatches the lid and slowly opens it to reveal a handful of necklaces and earrings. She grabs the one golden necklace. On the end of the chain is a beautifully woven gold wire wrapped oval. It was an enchanting white gem with many colors dancing across it. Every time Andrea turns it in her hand the colors change and sway.

She unclasps the chain and drapes it around her neck clasping it and letting it fall around her. It sits right between her clavicles. Andrea walks to the left of the dresser to a mirror. She smiles at her reflection focusing her eyes on the flawless design of the simple necklace. Andrea straightens her clean shirt. It's a dark purple shirt with sleeves that reach her elbows. Her pants are black along with her belt. Attached to the belt is a white and silver sheath.

* * *

In Andrea's room Charity is changing into one of Andrea's old dresses. The dress fits perfectly over her small frame. It's a light pink dress with small embroidered butterflies on the end of each short sleeve. Her dress has a round neckline with a bloused bodice and a flared skirt that reaches her knees. Around her waist is a pastel purple belt with a small leather sheath attached to it. The best part is the dress has pockets on it just below the belt. Charity holds the small dagger in her hand finding herself enjoying the way it fits perfectly there. She twirls it letting the candle light flicker off it and onto the walls. She sheaths the dangerous item.

Charity looks down at her dress smiling one last time before she twirls to the door admiring the way the skirt puffs with air.

* * *

Ryker packs what food they have gently into Andrea's small worn bucket bag. He smiles at the memory of Andrea and him using this bag to collect shells near Sapphire Lake. It was so much easier back then. He pulls the bag shut and sighs. They would do this. They had to, for better or for worse. Wasn't that what people said when they got married? Now the words weren't for love but for luck and hopefully no more loss of precious life. _Their_ precious lives. He looks toward the hallway. Let them be as safe as possible.

* * *

Andrea walks out of her mother's bedroom without looking back towards the knitting room. She walks down the hall and knocks on her own bedroom door. Charity opens it right away and smiles kindly putting her hands in the pockets of the dress. Andrea smiles back but her smile is distant and small.

Charity looks at Andrea's icy eyes for an answer and asks, "You okay?" Andrea swoops Charity into a tight hug. The kindness of the hug touches Andrea's heart and adds a small piece back of what was now missing. It gives her hope.

Charity smiles sweetly putting a twinkle into her deep emerald eyes.

"Thank you," Andrea says with a reassuring smile that was truly genuine.

"For what?" Charity says slightly confused. As always.

"For being a friend," Andrea answers.

Charity pulls out of the hug and says, "You don't have to thank me for that. You would have done the same if it were me."

Charity walks into the living room leaving Andrea there in her thoughts. She realizes she would have done the same. For her friend.

Andrea walks into the living room to see Ryker standing near the door. Charity with the bag in hand extended out to Andrea.

"Ready?" Charity asks.

* * *

 **Sorry for the short chapter, but none the less I hope you enjoy it! This is one of my favorite chapters so far! Thank you to those who have made it this far! 3**

 **~ Kit**


	8. Chapter 7

The three of them exit the house. One after the other. Ryker walks to the right of the house and Charity follows. Andrea stays just outside the doorway and looks over to the left of the house.

Before following the other two Andrea murmurs, "Goodbye mom." Andrea jogs lightly to catch up with them.

"So where are we going?" Charity asks looking up at Ryker.

He keeps walking and answers, "To Sapphire Lake."

Charity jumps remembering Andrea telling her this and questions him excitedly, "Will we see mermaids!?"

He stops to look at her and says, "Not anymore."

Charity stops to look at the ground and says, "Oh, right."

Ryker smiles attempting to cheer her up and says, "Hey, you might get to kill some nightmares, though."

Charity gasps and says, "That sounds horrible!"

Ryker chuckles and says, "Don't knock it till you try it."

"This isn't trying a new food," Charity says sternly.

He nods and says, "Trust me, I know." Charity looks up at him now at his side and smiles lightly. She turns back to Andrea who is looking up through the tree branches and the many leaves they hold to the light falling through them.

"Yes?" Andrea asks feeling eyes on her.

"Nothin'," Charity says and walks slower until she's at Andrea's side.

Andrea smiles at the calm atmosphere around her. She can't remember the last time she walked through these woods with a good friend at her side. Andrea breathes in a deep breath of fresh air. She slowly exhales.

Charity watches her feet as she walks through the unusual place. Step by step she wants to know more, explore more. She looks up wondering how much time has passed at home.

She begins humming not aware that she's doing it.

Ryker looks back at the two of them. They look almost normal. At least normal for Hydrangea. People back where Charity's from wouldn't exactly carry swords or daggers at their side. He smiles at them but it doesn't reach his eyes. It never reaches his eyes. Ever.

Charity looks up to see Ryker glancing at them and Charity smiles at him wiping the smile from his face. He turns back around. Rude, Charity thinks to herself. Andrea laughs at the sudden change of expression on Charity's face. It's now scrunched up like she caught a whiff of a bad odor. In Ryker's case, she caught a whiff of a bad attitude.

"How far is it?" Charity asks looking at the space in front of all three of them. It was gorgeous in the daylight. Yet, she still loves the way everything glows and lights up even in the dark.

Andrea looks back up from Charity and says, "The lake?" Charity nods up at Andrea.

"Oh, it's not too far. It'll be around noon when we get there, though," Andrea explains to Charity. Who looks taken back.

"How long is that from now?" Charity asks.

Andrea thinks and says, "About an hour or two."

"Look, you guys are used to this. Me, though, I walk a minimum of two miles a day. Plus I have stubby legs. I mean look at them!" Charity exclaims.

Andrea laughs and Ryker says, "Trust me we have."

Andrea laughs a little harder and Charity shouts sternly, "It isn't like I want to be short!"

Andrea sighs with a stitch in her side from laughing and says calmingly, "We know. It's just funny. Plus it suits you."

Ryker chuckles and says, "Yeah, it's kind of cute."

Charity's face goes brick red at that and she accidentally holds her breath. Well not accidentally more like involuntarily. She didn't see that remark coming. Ryker is normally rude and not open about things.

From the strain of breath, she begins to walk in a robotic manner. Ryker and Andrea look at her. They don't quite understand what she is doing.

Andrea pats Charity's back with some force.

"Hey!" Charity exclaims at the sudden hit in the back.

Andrea laughs some more and says, "Sorry, but your face was a little purple."

"Oh," Charity says bringing her hands to her face.

Something loud rustles into the path in front of them.

A dark mass is floating in front of Ryker totally oblivious of the three to its left. It's see through but gets darker and harder to see through as you get closer to the middle of it. It has small arms that are dark like the middle of it. It's hands if you can call them that are just three claws. You can't see its face clearly from the position it's in.

Ryker wraps his hand around the handle of his sheathed sword. He slowly unsheathes it delicately trying to make as little as sound as possible.

The mass makes a few clicking like roars but they are silent and Charity almost has to lean in to hear them.

Ryker gets his sword out and plunges it straight through the middle of it. Its head turns to reveal a faceless void on the other side. Then it slowly disappears in the wind.

Ryker shakes his sword flinging off the strange goo like substance left behind. He sheathes it again after a moment.

Andrea finally breaks the silence and says, "This one seems to have wandered from its group."

Ryker looks back and asks, "Do you think the group it came from was large enough for that to happen?"

She nods her reply and her tense shoulders finally sag. Charity wonders how much she is affected by seeing these things.

That thought sprouts a question Charity then asks, "What was that thing?" Charity's face looks disgusted and frightened at the same time.

Andrea sighs and says, "That's just one of the many forms a demon will take here."

Charity's mouth opens agape, she shuts it before opening it again to say, "There are different kinds?"

Andrea nods and says, "That one is the easiest to kill, and is the stupidest of them."

Charity looks at the remains. A dark mass is on the ground. It looks poisonous.

Ryker steps over it and says, "Don't touch it or it will burn your skin off."

Charity looks at Andrea and she says, "Yeah, let's just say. There definitely was the stereotypical village idiot."

"What happened to him," Charity asks.

Andrea looks at the dark mass as she steps over it carefully and says, "We added to the pile, the pile of dead."

Charity looks back at Andrea walking a step in front of the remains and asks, "They were dying fast enough to have a pile?"

Andrea nods and says, "Yeah, they ended up having to burn the bodies. After that, everyone left. Everyone except us." Charity looks at the ground as she walks watching her feet go left, right, left, right and repeating.

She continues watching the simple pattern of her feet and says, "That's horrible Andrea."

"Well, we'll have to get used to that together won't we," Andrea smiles at her sadly just as Charity looks up.

Charity smiles back not sure what she's smiling for. For her friend, to help Andrea feel somewhat better? Probably, or was it to keep her from losing something inside? What would she lose, though? She looks around and stops and looks at Andrea and realizes it. Hope. She did it for the hope she held deep down, for the future, for the people who lived here. For anything and everything. She was smiling. It might have been a cold small smile. Yet, she felt even though it was weak it made her feel stronger. She thought if she could keep smiling deep down she would be okay. She will be okay. Andrea will be okay.

Andrea looks at Charity in wonder. She could see the thoughts zooming through Charity's head in her bright green eyes. Andrea looks away and back at the poisonous puddle that was slowly fading from her sight with every step.

Ryker looks back at them and asks, "Why is it so quiet back there? You two are never silent."

Andrea looks at him suddenly shaken from the weird almost peaceful trance draped over her and says, "We're just thinking. That's all."

Charity goes back to watching her feet for a moment as she walks to the beat of her heart. It's soothing to her, something simple she can go back to when she needs it.

Charity looks at the center of Ryker's back with a sudden thought and asks, "How many of those things have you killed?"

Ryker looks back at her almost surprised but doesn't let it show on his face. He doesn't say anything. All he does is shrug his shoulders and turn back around.

Charity having now given up on him looks to Andrea. Andrea looks from her to the sky and thinks. She can't remember how long ago it was that she lost count. Yes, she was keeping count. At least for the first two hundred and fifty-four. After that, she gave up.

Andrea looks back at Charity and says, "A lot."

Charity nods understandingly and looks at her dagger. Would she ever have to kill anything here?

Ryker turns to look at Charity says, "We will show you what to do when fighting with that." He nods toward her dagger reading her mind.

Charity grips her hand around the thick leather sheath and murmurs, "Okay."

Ryker laughs and states, "It's not technically murder. I mean they aren't even technically alive."

Andrea nods at his comment and says, "If it bothers you that much-"

"N-no it's fine! I told you I'm here to help, I'll do what I can," Charity interrupts.

Andrea smiles and says, "Well if you say so."

They continue walking for a while until they were nearly there.

"My feet are going to fall off," Charity groans.

Ryker sighs and says, "If you don't stop complaining I'm going to chop them off."

Charity closes her mouth and looks around Ryker to see a view through the trees. The lake is right there. Charity gasps at the sickening darkness of it.

Andrea looks at Charity and asks, "See it?"

Charity nods and says, "It's hard to imagine it never looked like that."

Andrea smiles at the many memories of playing near the water or talking to the mermaids about nothing more than nonsense.

Ryker moves so she can see it more clearly and says, "Maybe someday you'll get to see the Sapphire Lake Andrea and me grew up with."

Charity smiles at the lake and says, "I hope so." Charity runs ahead to get a better view. She comes out of the trees and into an open space. To her left, she can see buildings in the distance. That must be the village. Charity smiles wanting to explore the precious memories that it holds. To her right is the Sapphire Lake. It's not too big but is much too big to even be considered a pond.

Andrea comes up behind her and says, "It used to be a lot fuller and more beautiful."

Charity smiles at the thought of an eye-arresting blue lake. Its name must have suited it perfectly. Before everything happened. Before Andrea started losing herself to all the grief. Charity thinks this because when they first met Andrea was filled with much more hope. Andrea now has very little to hold onto. The hope has faded over the six years of them knowing each other. It's been diluted by grief. The grief that Charity didn't know about until now. If only she could have seen it and was able to help back then. It would be so much better now.

They all walk forward more until they're a few feet from the shoreline.

Charity walks to the right and starts getting closer to the water. She can see things moving around ominously in the water. Are there actually things in the water?! She looks closer.

Andrea looks over at Charity and yells, "Look out!"

Charity looks to see what she's talking about and behind her is a tall dark figure but this time it has bloodshot eyes and isn't transparent. She wishes but this one is just disgusting. The one you would see in movies. Yet this isn't a movie. This is really happening, and it's happening to her.

Before Charity can let out a scream she is pushed in the chest and hard. She goes flying. She starts to actually fall about five feet past the shoreline. Charity gasps right before her back hits the water. It does no good because the impact takes the air straight back. It was like hitting concrete. Except hitting concrete just hurts, it doesn't then encase you and make you suffocate with itself.

Charity sinks farther and farther down. It's so dark. Are her eyes even open? She makes sure and then looks around her she can see the demons moving around her. When something snaps and she is no longer present.

Andrea screams and looks over at the demon. It's grinning from ear to ear. She charges at it and unsheathes her sword. She jams her sword right in between it's eyes running the shine of the beautiful silver through its misshapen skull. It covers the sword with thick black blood. It's lifeless head falls off her sword and its body falls to the ground. She watches as the body begins to slowly burn away. She turns to see Ryker plummeting into the water after Charity.

Ryker swims deeper and deeper. How far could she have sunken by now? Ryker sees her slowly floating down. His eyes widen, she's unconscious. He grabs her hand which is the closest thing to him. He turns beginning to swim up. The dark creatures around him claw towards them. Trying to get them to die, to drown, to give up. Yeah right, he thought, only if that was an option at the moment. He swims harder trying to get her to the surface as fast as he could. The creatures start clawing more. He kicks his legs with everything he has and uses his free arm to help. He looks up at the small amount of light coming up through the water.

He feels a searing pain in his free arm and looks down at it concerned. There three lines going down the side of his arm, each about five inches long. It scratched him. He looks over at Charity who is coming up alongside him. Her eyes closed peacefully and her thick brown hair floating gracefully around her head. She looks fine for now that is. He swims harder and uses his arm despite the pain and finally breaches the water.

He sees Andrea on her knees on the bank her eyes red with strain. She was holding in tears. She sees the two of them.

"Thank God!" She exclaims and jogs over to them but doesn't get into the infested water. Ryker wraps his good arm under Charity's arm and lifts her. Her unconscious body leans against his. Her feet drag along the sand underneath the water as he walks to Andrea.

Andrea notices Charity's eyes are closed. No, I can't lose her too! I can't lose my best friend, my only friend left! Andrea's eyes burn threatening her with tears. Yet, her cheeks stay dry as they come closer to her.

Once they are close enough Andrea grabs Charity from Ryker. She pulls Charity against her and lays her down on the sun-warmed sand. The wind is loud in her ear. Everything is so quiet as she shakes Charity's shoulders. Andrea pumps her hands right above Charity's belly button as she was taught. Andrea does this over and over again. The same process one, two, three…. five, six…. nine,ten and check. She then continues shaking her shoulders.

Charity coughs up water into Andrea's face. Andrea doesn't care as the water runs down into her eyes. She wipes it away and wraps Charity in her arms.

Charity looks at the water and then up at Andrea's face. The streaks of water on her face. Andrea body shakes from all the nervousness spilling out at once.

Ryker sits on the ground a good distance away from them. His left arm is numb from the pain.

Charity suddenly realizes how cold she is but how warm Andrea is. She leans into the warmth resting her head on Andrea's shoulder.

Her brown hair is a soggy mess that is clamping to her neck, and the sides of her face. The pink dress clings to her frame and outlines her.

"I thought I might have lost you. Y-you weren't waking up," Andrea mutters.

Charity rubs Andrea's back and says, "I told you I'm not leaving you."

Charity looks back at Ryker and smiles. He gives her a small thumbs up but his face stays straight. He looks a little pale.

Ryker stands back up and looks into the water. He steps into it again and jumps in.

Andrea lets go of Charity the tears finally stopping and turns around at the large splash. Ryker just jumped back into the water.

Charity looks from Andrea's shocked expression to the water. She looks were Ryker was and to the water.

"Why would he go back in!" Charity demands.

Andrea shakes her head speechless and says, "F-for Mom."

Charity looks at Andrea confusion cluttering her face and asks, "What?"

"Our mom wrote a note a long time ago to go here. He's going down there to see if she was right," Andrea says quietly.

Charity nods trying to understand and watches the dark water. The ripples he made already turned back into the lakes natural small waves.

The two wait and a long two whole minutes go by with nothing happening.

Charity looks around for a sign of him coming back up and says, "Where is he?"

Andrea shakes her head and stutters, "I don't- I don't know." Her eyes scan the water rapidly.

Then a quiet splash happens to the right of them. They turn to see Ryker holding a rock.

Andrea gets up and runs towards him and plants her feet in the sand and jumps wrapping him into a hug. He grunts from the pain. Andrea jumps back from him.

"What happened!" Andrea exclaims looking over him for an injury. Her eyes stop on his left arm. Blood is slowly running down it. It runs faster with the water thinning it.

She looks towards Charity who is sitting next to the bucket bag. Charity nods and grabs the bag and stands.

Charity's legs are unstable under her. She walks slowly getting used to the weakness of them. Ryker sits down in the sand. Charity throws the bag to Andrea. She catches it clutching it against her like it might fade.

She turns back to Ryker and kneels on his left side. She gets the full scale of the damage. It's not deep enough for stitches but is deep enough for the blood amount to be alarming. She digs into the bag. She pulls out what looks like gauze but is thicker, an ointment bottle, a bottle with clear liquid, and a rag.

She dampens the rag with the clear liquid and puts it on the cut. He yells out in pain. Andrea continues to hold it on the wound. He hisses in response. She hands the ointment and gauze to Charity.

"Rub that ointment all over one side ," Andrea says still focusing on cleaning the wound.

Andrea rubs the blood off of his skin and pats the wound with the rag. Ryker hisses again from the sting of it. Andrea sticks her hand out to Charity who has been slathering the ointment onto the gauze quickly. Charity sets it into Andrea's open palm. Andrea quickly wraps it around his wound. She clips it shut using what was attached to the end of the thick wrapping.

Ryker sighs and falls onto his back and says, "That really hurt." His face is pale and looks like he will pass out any moment. Ryker's hair is sticking up in strange places from the water. His clothing sticks to him as well revealing a muscular chest and arms.

Andrea sighs and walks over to the water. She sticks her hands into the water and rubs them together clearing the blood off of them. Charity puts the ointment and clear liquid back into the bag.

Charity then lays on the ground getting warmth from the warm rocks underneath her. Andrea sits next to the bag and lays down with them.

"All this for what? You getting hurt, and Charity possibly dying," Andrea exclaims viciously up at the sky.

"I brought back a rock," Ryker says breaking the angry aura.

"Why would a rock help me feel any better about this?" Andrea asks sitting up and looking at him.

He looks toward the rock sitting on his right side and says, "Look at it."

Andrea crawls over to it and picks it up. It's a pitch black rock that has no points whatsoever. It is completely curved into an oval. Her fingers skim all over the rock then stop. She feels engravings on the back of the rock. Andrea flips it over to see three words etched into the rock. The words sent anger, hatred, and sadness through her all at once. She felt as if her blood was boiling with it. Yet, one feeling suddenly stood out from the rest chilling her blood, fear.

Charity sees the outline of something written on it and asks, "What does it say?"

Andrea tosses the rock at Charity's feet. Charity sits up and picks up the rock. She flips it over.

Wonder who's next?

Charity drops the rock and backs away from it.

"They aren't here anymore," Andrea mutters quietly.

Ryker stands and says, "Let's find a place to stay for the night." Andrea nods and stands slowly.

Ryker turns back towards Radiate Forest and says, "It's probably safer in there, then the village." Andrea nods again.

Charity stands and puts her hand on Andrea's shoulder and says, "Come on."

They walk together. All three of them enter the woods once more. Charity and Andrea follow Ryker to a small little opening between four trees and decide to stay there for now.

They all sit and lean against their own tree. Charity's was in the middle with Andrea to her left and Ryker to her right.

Andrea sighs and says, "So much for Sapphire Lake."

Charity looks at her and says, "We'll stop them, whoever they are." Ryker looks over at Charity who is now looking at the sun setting through the trees.

Andrea looks toward the village on Ryker's side and says, "We used to be so oblivious. Remember when we would run through the streets? Dodging people left and right so you wouldn't touch me with the mud on your hands."

Ryker chuckles and says, "You hated getting mud on your dresses."

Andrea smiles and says, "Oh, and how Ms Rumple would always yell at us from her door to stop running around on her lawn."

He laughs harder and mimicking her voice he says, "You'll ruin my petunias!"

Andrea laughs and Charity smiles wide at them and says, "You guys were crazy!"

Ryker nods and says, "We were definitely a handful. How parents put up with us is beyond me."

Andrea nods and says, "Remember that time we ran through the fields and found a rotten pumpkin?"

Charity winces and says, "Eww, what did you do?"

Ryker laughs and says, "Well we smelt like pumpkin for a week afterwards." Charity scrunches her nose.

Andrea smiles and says, "The one time the Overseer came to the house."

Ryker nods and says, "Yeah we acted like he was royalty. Practically kissing his and his wife's feet."

Charity yawns and asks, "What's an overseer?"

Andrea smiles at the memory and says, "Instead of like a mayor like you have we have overseers. They don't have much power but they just make sure everything goes fine."

Charity slowly drifts off into sleep as the conversation around her continues.


	9. Chapter 8 and 9

In her sleep, Charity dreams of nothing. Her mind is blank except for one song she hears in the middle of the silence. It draws to her, opening up her senses. Making everything clear, but blank. As Charity sleeps she listens to the strange lullaby. The sound of a woman's voice soft and sweet voice echoes in her ears.

Go to sleep young one

It's time to say goodbye

Lay your head upon the ground

I will tuck you in so tight

Say your prayers and they'll be answered

Dream of dreams so light

Lay your head upon the ground

It's time to say goodbye

Oh lay your head upon the ground

It's time to say goodnight

It puts Charity in a strange trance. It repeats endlessly in her head. She is still asleep but is up moving around. Just like a sleepwalker, but entirely different.

Charity starts walking toward Ryker. She trips over his legs. Charity stabilizes herself and continues walking forward.

Ryker stirs and wakes to see Charity walking back towards Sapphire Lake.

He calls out to her quietly trying not to wake Andrea, "Charity, Charity."

She doesn't stop walking. He gets up and walks towards her. He walks in front of her and turns to see her eyes shut. Is she a sleep walker? He's never seen someone sleepwalk. What should he do? He asks himself these questions.

Charity eventually exits their small clearing. Ryker looks at Andrea and thinks of waking her. He shakes his head at the thought. Too dangerous. Ryker turns back towards Charity and follows her.

She walks all the way to Sapphire Lake. Ryker is about to reach out to her but then she turns toward the village. Why would she sleep walk there?

Ryker follows her through the village. Everything is obviously abandoned. The stone walkways have plants growing between the cracks. Some of the houses that had been set on fire have just a foot of wall left.

Surprisingly very few were burnt to nothing from what he remembered. He looks back at her to see she has stopped. He looks to the building she stopped in front of. It's his old house. There was about six inches of walls remaining. You could still see the outline of where all the rooms were. He smiles at the fond memories he has from the house. Then his eyes stop on the living room. Ryker's memories of that day seem to attack him. He looks away and back at Charity.

Why hadn't he just turned her around and led her back to their makeshift "camp"? He looks around the area, there's nothing but him and her. Why didn't he stop her from bringing him back here? He thinks for an answer but settles with curiosity. He continues to think when he sees her move.

Ryker looks up and sees her entering through where the door would have been. She walks to the left into Andrea's and his old bedroom. He slowly follows her into the room.

Charity lays down on the ground. She lays right where Ryker's bed once was. He looks at her and notices she's gone back to sleep. The song stops playing in her mind. He lays down next to her.

Ryker watches the night sky. He watches stars come and go as they fell from view. There were so many out tonight. The sky was littered with colorful specks of light. He watches the stars for a long time and finds himself slowly blinking his eyes about to fall asleep.

Ryker quickly sits up and rubs his eyes once with his fingers. He looks down at Charity. She looks so peaceful in her sleep. A lot quieter than when she's awake too. Ryker smiles to himself.

He puts his right arm under her knees and his left arm behind her shoulders. He winces slightly at a stab of pain that shoots through his arm. He lifts her up and realizes she is a lot lighter then he thought she would be. He moves his arms slightly making carrying her more comfortable.

Ryker begins walking. He exits the house and walks through the silent village. He looks down at Charity who is leaning against his chest. She stirs. He stops at the end of the village.

Charity opens her eyes and look up at Ryker and then to the sky. It's so gorgeous she thinks.

She looks back at Ryker and says in a small tired voice, "The stars are so amazing here. Just like I could touch them." She raises her arm up and moves her hand like she's grabbing something. Ryker stares at her hand as it falls back onto her stomach.

Charity nestles deeper into his chest and falls back into a calm sleeping state. Ryker stares at her in wonder his mouth open like he's about to say something. He smiles at her and watches the way the moon lights up her face.

Ryker continues walking towards the "camp". He passes Sapphire Lake and walks back into the forest. He steps quietly into their little space.

Ryker walks over to Charity's spot and sets her down slowly and gently. The wind blows moving through her hair. He goes back to his tree and lays down looking up through the trees at the night sky. He remembers what she said about them. "Just like I could touch them." He reaches up and grabs for them. Just like she did. Resting his hand on his stomach he feels the cold wind blow around them again.

Ryker turns to look at Charity and falls asleep.

 **Chapter Nine**

Charity sits up rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. She yawns stretching her arms out towards the sky. She leans against the tree and looks at the twins. Ryker was turned towards her. His face is gentle and calm with sleep. His dark eyelashes gently rest on his cheeks.

Charity looks over at Andrea whose arms are crossed. Unlike Ryker, her face looks almost grumpy. Charity slowly crawls toward Andrea. She taps Andrea on the shoulder. Andrea doesn't stir, instead, she gets a grumpier expression.

Now slightly frustrated Charity taps Andrea's right shoulder with more force. Andrea does more then stir, or get grumpier. Andrea throws her right fist into the air nearly hitting Charity. Charity goes as still as a statue. Andrea slowly opens her eyes to see her hand sitting to the right of Charity's face, in the air.

Sitting up quickly Andrea feels an intense need to apologize. Andrea sets her hand at her side, unfolding it from the fist it was in.

She then turns to Charity and asks, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Charity says plainly. Charity scoots back on her knees.

Ryker stirs in his sleep flipping to the opposite side. They both turn to look at him. The two stay silent for a moment before looking at each other again and snicker lightly.

Charity reaches for her hair ties and takes them out. She lets her short thick hair fall over her neck and shoulders. She then pulls it back up again.

Andrea watches her do that and combs her own fingers through her hair. She didn't pull it back like Charity. Always letting it lay down to the middle of her back. Andrea pulls it all to the right side of her face and lets it sit on that shoulder. She stands and pulls Charity up to a standing position.

Andrea turns around her back to the other two and scans the area.

She turns back and says quietly, "Follow me." Charity nods and follows Andrea step by step deeper into the forest.

Charity slowly counts the steps as they walk in a comfortable silence. 71, 72, 73 74. Charity watches her feet as she does this. 95,96,97. She walks straight into Andrea's still back. Charity looks up at her and sees she has stopped in front of a tall tree.

The tree doesn't twist around itself as much as the ones near it. Hidden among the leaves of the tree is a plum-like fruit the size of a softball. They hang in the air weighing down the strong branches.

Andrea reaches up and grabs one, and then another until her arms are full with a dozen of the fruits.

Charity looks at the fruits making her stomach grumble and says, "I can carry some too."

Andrea looks back at her and asks, "You sure?"

"It's just some fruit," Charity states extending her hand. Andrea sighs dropping one into Charity's open palm. Charity's hand is pulled down instantly by the weight of the fruit. She lifts up her arm and looks up at Andrea with a stunned expression.

"This is fruit!?" Charity demands, staring at the heavy purple sphere in her hand.

Andrea snickers at her like she always does and says, "Yes. This is why I didn't want to give it to you."

Charity smiles and says, "I got it." As she clutches the heavy fruit to her chest.

Charity recounts all her steps back to their clearing. Ryker is still asleep. Andrea goes to set the fruits down. She sets them in between the four trees that look as if they are protecting the three of them. Charity still clutching her fruit walks over to her tree and plops down in front of it. She sits staring at the fruit in her small hands.

Andrea looks at her and says, "Aren't you going to eat it?" She takes a big bite out of her own fruit. Andrea chews and swallows appreciating the ripeness of the flavor.

Charity looks at Andrea and says, "I named it."

Andrea tilts her head looking at Charity and says, "Why?"

Charity shrugs and says, "I don't really know."

Trying to understand but failing Andrea asks, "What's its name?"

"Dave," Charity says looking down at her fruit."

Andrea looks at her own fruit and says, "Dave?"

Charity nods like it's normal and confirms, "Dave."

Sighing Andrea says, "Well time to eat Dave."

"But, it's Dave," Charity says pleadingly. Andrea nods and motions for her to eat it.

"If you really want you can cut Dave in half," Andrea says giving her an option.

Charity nods and says, "Okay." She pulls her dagger out of its sheath. The dagger glints in the sunlight blinding her momentarily. It slides through Dave gracefully. Now in her hands are two different sides of Dave. She wipes the excess juice off on her skirt and replaces the silver dagger into its sheath.

Charity takes a small bite from the juicy fruit named Dave. Her mouth is covered in the apple like taste, but somewhere there is a sugary taste as well. Charity has had something that tastes just like this before. She chews getting as much flavor as she can before she swallows.

Charity perks up realizing where she has had it before and says, "It tastes like a caramel apple!" Ryker stirs and Charity squints at the thought of waking up a grumpy Ryker.

Andrea nods at her and says, "Exactly what I have always thought. They're Ryker's favorite fruit."

Ryker sits up at the sound of his name. His eyes are wide. The suddenness of it leaves the other two quiet. He looks around him and sees the round purple fruit on the ground in front of him.

"Oh, moon lapse," Ryker says grabbing one and taking a large bite out of it.

Charity looks at her split open fruit and says, "Moon lapse?"

Andrea nods and says, "Yep." Charity takes another bite of the moon lapse.

She finds herself liking the name. It reminded her of the night sky, of course. "Just like I could touch them." What was that memory? Charity looks at the sky, then back at her fruit. She shrugs and takes another bite of it. Andrea raises an eyebrow at her. Charity swallows the bite and smiles at her.

Ryker looks at Charity. I wonder if she remembers last night. She was asleep for most of it. He shrugs and takes another bite still staring at her. She looks over noticing him, and for once she sees something. She sees wonder painted delicately across the sky blue of his iris. Charity smiles at him catching him once again off guard by it. He looks away from her bright smile and swallows.

Charity looks from Ryker to Andrea and asks, "So where are we going now?"

Andrea looks at the large fruit in her hand and says, "Before the note we were planning on going to the village."

Charity nods and says, "You never really told me the name of your village."

Andrea looks up at her and says, "Huh, I guess not."

Ryker looks up at Andrea with and asks. "Is that a good idea?"

Andrea shrugs and says, "I've told her the names of everywhere else."

Ryker tilts his head at her and says, "You know that isn't the same."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah okay," Andrea says and shakes her head at Charity.

"You guys might have a good reason not to tell me but you just doing that makes me want to know even more," Charity says hopelessly curious.

Andrea shrugs and says, "Sorry."

Charity takes another mouse bite from her moon lapse. She swallows the sweet fruit leaving the soft aftertaste of it.

The three of them finish eating and get a bearing on what's happening around them.

Ryker stands, brushing the grime off his clothes, the others do the same. He grabs the bucket bag loading a few of the moon lapses into them. Ryker hands the bag off to Andrea who wraps it around her shoulders.

Charity unsheathes her dagger with a sudden question and asks, "What happened to the thing that pushed me in?"

Andrea turns almost surprised at the question and says with no emotion, "I stabbed it right in between its eyes." Charity looks at her dagger. She then sheathes it before she starts thinking things she doesn't wish to. Charity sighs as she smoothes her dress around her.

Ryker looks back at Charity and asks, "Did you see the sky last night?" There it is again she thought, that curiousness. It made his sky blue eyes seem just as endlessly pretty as the actual.

Charity breaks eye contact and says, "No, I didn't see it. I bet the stars were gorgeous, though." She sighs again looking up through the trees. A breeze blows around them at that moment playing with the short amount of hair jutting out from the ponytail.

Ryker almost feels disappointed when she said that. He shrugs internally like he had thought earlier there wasn't much of a chance she would remember it. Charity was not only asleep then, but is also completely clueless. He smiles at her quickly before turning back around.

Charity looks up at the sound of them walking. She falls in step behind them.


	10. Chapter 10

They get right outside of the village when Ryker stops walking and turns to Andrea. Andrea stops her side conversation with Charity to look up at him. Curious of what they are about to say Charity looks over at Ryker as well.

"We should split up to cover the area as quickly as possible," Ryker states.

Andrea looks at Charity and says, "She isn't leaving my side."

Ryker nods and says, "Alright. This won't take long. You two can check all the burnt down buildings quickly for any signs of recent life here. I'll take the cathedral and the herb bunker."

"Are you sure you want to check the herb bunker?" Andrea says scrunching up her face.

Ryker shakes his head as a reply and says, "Of course not, but you aren't going to search through rotten plants."

Andrea gets a shiver down her spine at the thought of it and says, "Yeah, you're right. If you need any help though you yell as loud as you can."

Ryker nods. Andrea and him share a light, brief hug. They look at each other for a moment and nod.

Charity looks at Andrea as she says, "Come on, there are a lot of houses to search."

Ryker watches them walk away. Heh, yell for help, didn't mom always say he was the quiet one. He shakes his head at them and turns towards his left. The cathedral, known as a holy place; a place not even evil can get into. Well, then we got a broken one.

He steps into the large entrance of the cathedral. The large wooden doors were long gone as the hinges were rusty and still miraculously hanging on the walls. He walks down the large hall into the main room. Pews line the walls, five rows on each side of him. He walks down the long aisle, a purple and blue torn carpet under his feet. Light streams in through the broken windows all around him. The large windows behind the podium creates a spotlight on his face making his black hair look shiny.

He covers his eyes from the light and takes a few more steps forward. Dust still covers everything along every aisle. He looks at the podium. The top half had been completely ripped off. From that fateful day. Ryker could still hear all the screams echoing off the walls around him.

They had broken in through the windows, shattering them. Sending countless shards flying into the groups of people in the building. They had all run here for shelter from them. Now miraculously they had broken into a sacred place, unwanted and bloodthirsty. The children ran behind their parents. The wives behind their husbands. The husbands behind the high priest as he tried to warn the creatures off with holy water and verses. Well, our guardian angels had fled that fateful day, and haven't been seen since.

Ryker shakes away the awful memory. How many people had died that day? He sighs and pricks his pointer finger on the sharps splinters jutting up from what's left of the podium. Ryker sucks the blood off of his fingertip and looks in the small area behind the podium. There were sustained blood stains. Stains seemed to cover this building. Blood, hope, memories, screams. Those things just never went away, did they?

Ryker turns to his left towards another door. He opens it revealing a small room. A desk, a melted and long forgotten candle, papers were thrown everywhere across the room. Ryker's eyes scan the room over for the tiniest hint of something other than his own breath stirring the stale air. His eyes rest on the untouched desk. Sitting on the desk was a bright white feather sitting in the middle of dried up spilled ink. Such a contrast, like night and day.

He exits the room and continues to scan the Cathedral to find nothing more than dashed glass littering the floor.

Ryker walks out of the Cathedral and looks down the road to his right. The herb bunker. No one has been down there in years. At least he didn't think so. Who would want to? Rotten, moldy plants probably half-eaten by rats. Thrown around, hanging on the walls, scattered across the floor. He nearly shivers at the thought of that much gross in one room. Ryker takes a few long strides towards it. Until he was standing on the top step to the line of steep steps leading down to a damp entrance.

He takes another step down. At least it doesn't smell outside of the bunker. Ryker takes a few more steps towards the dark oak door that seems to taunt him. He rests his hand on the cold metal handle. He pulls the door open and shuts it immediately. Ryker rests his back against the large door.

He coughs, the bad smell stuck in the air around him, and he says, "Nope." He runs up the stone stairs and doesn't look back at the door. He breathes heavily and sits on the ground.

* * *

Andrea looks around the remains of the houses. She sighs and keeps the memories at bay.

Charity kicks a rock and says, "There's no way there would be anything here. You can't even hide without lying down."

"Yeah, I know how you feel," Andrea says scanning everywhere. Andrea then forces Charity straight into her chest. Andrea reaches around Charity unsheathing her sword. She gets a grip on her sword and shoves it violently straight through the dark floating entity in front of her. It vanishes as quickly as it appeared. Andrea lets go of a confused Charity.

Charity turns around her back now to Andrea and sees the dark mass that now covers a small portion of ground. She slightly pouts but is relieved that it isn't there anymore.

Charity turns back to Andrea and says, "I thought I would get to kill the next thing."

Andrea puts her finger in the air with a tisk sound and says, "That isn't at all what I said."

Charity puts her hands on her hips remembering what Andrea had said just a minute ago.

" _Will you teach me how to kill them?" Charity asks scanning the houses to her left._

 _To Charity's right Andrea looks at her and says, "I'll have to I suppose."_

 _Charity claps and says, "Alright, is it gross?"_

 _Andrea laughs and says, "It can be."_

 _Nodding Charity asks, "Is it hard to do, as in sanity wise?"_

 _Andrea shifts her head and answers, "Depends on how you look at it. No, I guess since they're not human whatsoever. Yet, it's still a thing so it's going to fight back. If it is anything like hurting another person. I wouldn't know because I refuse to find out."_

 _Charity nods again and says, "When do I get to try?"_

 _Andrea shrugs and says, "The next one we come across I guess."_

" _Okay," Charity says her mind already flooded with uneasiness._

Murmuring to herself Charity says, "You totally did."

Hearing exactly what Charity said Andrea states, "Alright, fine. I'll let you attempt the next one. Although, if anything looks to have the slightest potential of going wrong. I will be stepping in."

Charity looks up at Andrea with a smile on her face and says, "Okay." She looks around again. Nothing over there. Oh, look nothing over there. Except for more house and sand.

Charity sighs and looks at her feet. She wiggles her toes. Making the top of her brown boots go up and down. Charity smiles. It reminds her of her little sister. Tryn.

I wonder what Tryn would think of this place. At least the good parts of it. The pixies, the faeries, the nymphs, and the merfolk. She would surely love it.

A new hope glows inside Charity. A sweet, and bright one. It sits there next to another. The other is large and fierce. It sits there a gentle giant, a quiet one at that too. One that Charity has yet to notice. One that holds memories from a distant past. Locked away inside her, only to be opened at a certain day. A sad, mournful day. Yet, a day that would solve many problems in her life and others.

* * *

Ryker finally stands and looks back at the door and murmurs, "I have to."

He takes a step closer to it. The smell still lingers around the area near the door. The stench stabbing at his nose and the clean air. Ryker sighs deeply taking another step.

"I really don't want to do this," He murmurs sounding almost upset.

Ryker looks at the steps around him. He sighs once more looking at the sky, feeling the air blow against his skin lightly.

He shrugs and states to himself, "I've got no other choice."

Ryker reaches his hand out. Feeling the soft breeze against it. He clasps his hand shut, trapping the air there. Ryker brings his closed hand towards his face. He flicks his wrist opening his hand and sending a constant airflow around his face. Creating a constant supply of fresh air, and not allowing the access of any foul smells.

* * *

Andrea looks up into the air. At the sudden change in the way it flows. She immediately looks back towards the direction they had come from. Ryker, the idiot. He knows it draws them.

Charity looks at the sudden change of expression on Andrea's face. Her own eyebrows draw together with concern.

Andrea looks at Charity then back towards Ryker's direction.

"What is it?" Charity questions.

Andrea grabs Charity's wrist and nearly demands, "Come on." She pulls Charity behind her in a fast walk.

* * *

Ryker opens the door. No smell. Good. He takes a step in.

Dark, crinkled things are thrown all over. The few pots remaining on the ceilings sway at the faultiness of the old, tired rope that holds them in the air. The other pots are smashed across the floor, leaving piles of dirt and broken pottery. The two wooden desks in the far right corner look as rotted as everything else in the room.

Ryker brings his hand up flicking it again. Clearing the capsule he has created around his face of the unwanted carbon.

He takes one last step inside. His right foot lands on something wrong. He looks down to see the carcass of a rat. He removes his foot with a look of disgust spreading across his face. Ryker takes one last, close look around the room. Nothing, except for everything he didn't want to see. Thankfully, though, he didn't have to smell it anymore.

He turns around to see a dark mass floating in the doorway. Ryker quickly unsheathes his sword plunging it through the mass as it lunges towards him.

Ryker looks through the doorway to the stairwell. It's covered in them, but not all were dark masses. He sighs begrudgingly and walks out the doorway towards them. With his sword in his right hand, he attacks the one nearest to him.

Before he can launch his sword through its chest another creature bites down on his left arm. Ryker roars in pain lunging his sword through the chest of the first one. He takes the head of the second one lifting it off his arm and sends its face flying into the stone wall encasing the stairs. It roars in pain, similar to how Ryker had.

Ryker sneers at it and plunges his sword through the back of its skull. He was certainly lucky that they don't have teeth. It may have only gummed his arm, but he could already see that the wound had reopened. The blood was starting to soak through slowly. He winces and looks up at the other unholy beings.

He waits for one to come stumbling down the stairs towards him. Ryker waits patiently for the demon to fall on the stairs, and it did. Ryker took the opportunity to place the tip of the sword right underneath the bridge of its unsettling nose. It lands directly on the sword. The being flails for a moment before it dies there. Ryker pulls his sword out of it. He pushes the body down the steps to disintegrate there.

Ryker flicks away the sphere of air around his face. He gags at the sudden smell of death around him. He coughs trying to get his bearing, but he takes too long. Something at his side heaves him down the steps in a forceful shove. Ryker lands hard on the stone floor. He groans as his left shoulder is dislocated and his arm goes numb with severe pain. Ryker hurls onto the ground from the smell around him and the nauseating pain that swells increasingly in his arm. He doesn't want to move but has no choice.

Ryker quickly flips onto his right side lifting himself up. He grabs his sword off the ground and looks at the tank of a demon in front of him. It's tall and has muscles of tar and flesh. Its own rotting skin drips onto the ground around it.

Being quick about it, Ryker leaps up the stairs avoiding the puddles of black poison. Ryker swiftly chops the being in half at the hips. Ryker moves his sword letting what was left of it fall to the bottom of the staircase.

He looks up at the remaining two on the staircase. He doesn't have to be at the top to know there are more of them. Ryker can hear them moaning, clicking, screaming, and roaring.

Ryker takes a step and jabs his sword through the middle of the floating ball of black. His sword never swerving, or missing its target. Ryker quickly removes his sword from the dissolving creature and places it in between the eyes of the next one. He flicks his sword out of the being.

Ryker strides quickly to the top of the staircase.

"Ryker!" Andrea yells spotting him through the crowd of dark entities. Charity cowers behind Andrea.

Ryker looks over at the two. About time. He smiles at them and stabs his sword through the middle of another being.

Andrea returns the smile unsheathing her sword. Andrea then turns momentarily towards Charity.

"This is a bit much for practice, but it'll have to do," Andrea states. She doesn't waste time as she quickly joins Ryker.

Charity gulps and unsheathes her small dagger. She grips the silver dagger in her equally small hand and gulps again.

Ryker plunges his sword into the back of another skull while Andrea cuts one in half.

Charity whimpers and murmurs to herself, "I have to." Though, as she says this her feet stay firmly planted on the ground.

Ryker and Andrea diminish the crowd of the unholy creatures to a seemingly measly seven.

Charity finally takes a step towards a dark figure hovering above the ground. It turns insanely fast towards her. She wavers slightly and takes another slow step towards it. Never moving her eyes off it. Then it growls at her, a low gurgle sound that makes its entire form shake. The being charges toward Charity. Charity holds her dagger out in front of her, closing her eyes. She feels something come in contact with it. She opens her eyes to see the creature an inch from her face. Her dagger is logged inside it as it slowly melts away, forming a puddle at her feet.

Charity takes a step back and looks at Andrea who is struggling with a large object that towers over her. Making someone taller than Charity appear small at that moment.

Charity swallows nothing and takes a step towards another floating object. This time she runs at it and jabs her dagger into the unsuspecting victim. Charity moves backward, her fierceness scaring herself.

At that moment something grabs the back of her dress and flings her away from everything else. Charity lands on her back, the air draining from her lungs in an instant. She gasps for air as tears form from the pain of rocks stabbing into her back. Charity continues to gasp as the dark creature walks towards her. It's back at a hunch.

Andrea and Ryker hear the slam of something against the ground. They finish off the two beings in front of them to see Charity cowering on the ground.

In unison, they both yell, "Charity!" Two more dark creatures approach them blocking their view of Charity.

As Charity wheezes for the air to return to her lungs. She struggles to see the creature through the tears streaming out of her eyes. It looks familiar, but all of them are the same no matter their form.

Charity grips her dagger tightly and holds it out in front of her. Her arm holding the dagger shakes as she tries to use the other one to back away. It inches closer to her. Now Charity's gasps aren't just her body fighting for air, but also the fear of dying sinking into her mind. As the creature moves her fear intensifies with every step it takes. The closer the twins see it get to Charity the more they struggle with the task at hand, and the need to save a friend.

The being's own face is now only a foot away from Charity's. She wheezes and chokes through the tears. Charity can smell its vile breath and gags at the smell of rotten meat. It's mouth forms a wide, toothy grin. Charity can still see each tooth through the blur of tears.

In the spur of the moment, and for the want to live. Charity takes her hand and drives her dagger through a single spot of its rotting flesh. Her dagger lands directly in between its bloodshot eyes. It's eyes widen as it slowly turns to dust and is blown away by the breeze. Yet, some still lingers and stays on and around her. Charity lets her head and shoulder blades fall against the ground with sudden relief.

Andrea maneuvers around the demon pursuing her and stabs it through the back of the skull. She then helps Ryker cut the last one in half. They both immediately turn to Charity. All they see is her, lying on her back. The two rush over to her. Throwing her sword to the ground Andrea drops to Charity's side. Ryker stops at Charity's feet seeing her chest heave up and down.

Andrea grabs Charity's shoulder helping her sit up. Ryker sheathes his sword and pulls Charity into a standing position.

He winces at a surge of pain from his left arm. The adrenaline fading his pain is slowly bringing him back to the reality of his injuries. He looks at his arm to see the middle of the gauze dark red with his blood. Ryker blinks one more time before fainting.


	11. Chapter 11

Charity watches as Ryker falls in slow motion in front of her. Her arms reach out just as slowly only to come together with nothing in them. Thud. Charity looks down at Ryker on the ground. Andrea runs over in slow motion as well. Why was everything slowing down around her? She even fell to her knees in slow motion. The dull and sharp rocks ramming into her knees at the same time. Andrea slides to the ground lifting his head off the ground.

Then the two, that remain conscious, look to his left arm simultaneously. The blood on it is spreading outwards, quickly. Charity lifts his arm and quickly undoes the wrapping. Andrea nods and grabs the bag off of her back. Charity throws the bloodied cloth to her left.

Andrea hops over to Charity's side of him. She kneels as well and takes the same bottles out. Andrea dampens an already bloody cloth with what must be alcohol, because when she presses it to his skin Ryker's eyes open wide as he screams. Ryker jerks up only to fall right back down in pain. Charity moves and holds his head still as he clenches his jaw tightly.

Charity puts her legs underneath his head as she strokes her fingers through his black hair making a soft shushing sound. His sky blue eyes look directly up into hers. Ryker holds her eyes there as he breathes heavily just looking into her eyes. He looks at nothing other than her dazzling green eyes. She looks at nothing other than his enchanting blue eyes.

Charity notices that with every flinch of pain his eyes get darker then go right back to their natural baby blue. As if a flashlight was turning off and on in his head. She was afraid that it would at some point stay off for too long. So she kept watching them as Andrea kept mending.

Andrea wipes and wipes away the oncoming blood over and over again. Both her palms and the cloth were now stained red. She gives up and watches Ryker's face as she does the only thing she knows to help him at the moment. Andrea takes the cloth and presses her weight down on the wound. Ryker jerks upward again roaring in pain. He strains in the air for a moment before falling to Charity's lap whimpering.

Charity draws his eyes to her again. She looks into his eyes trying to tell him, "It'll be okay." Charity strokes his hair.

Sweat beads around Ryker's temple as the pain flashes throughout his body with every quick beat of his heart. He looks into Charity's kind eyes trying to distract himself. To somehow turn the pain into a blank numbness, to make it go away. Yet, no amount of wanting would make this go away.

Andrea finally lifts off of his arm the blood flow has started to slow. She sighs thankfully and grabs the bottle of alcohol. She pours some over the open wound. Ryker's back arches as he lets out another heart-wrenching cry.

Charity starts to breathe heavy with concern. She wants his suffering to end. Not being able to do anything for him is keeping her there shaking her head as she looks into his mysterious eyes wondering when the pain will leave them, and wanting the pain to leave them.

Ryker looks right back at Charity's beautiful eyes seeing the pain, and concern there he wants to say something. He wants to say something so badly, but his mouth won't move. His vocal cords won't work. Until he sees a single tear of worry crawl down her cheek. She didn't know him well, but she would still cry for him. Charity would cry for him. He smiles kindly up at her and it just barely stretches out around his pupil. Then, something starts to form, he doesn't realize it yet because it's hidden deep in his corrupted heart. Yet, it's something sweet, and he can barely feel a twinge of it. He wants to calm her so he does what his mother once did.

He smiles wider and says to her, "Just look up at the sky, and let your worries soar by." When had he first heard his mother say this to him? Charity's head turns up towards the sky. Ryker looks up at it with her. He watches as a cloud slowly moves across the sky.

Andrea wraps a newly slathered gauze around his arm tightly. She winds it around his arm as tightly and as quickly as her arms would allow her. Ryker hisses as his wound is squeezed within the gauze. Either way, it dulls the throbbing to a minimum, but he can still feel it throughout his body. He can feel it in the pit of him. Where he didn't think he could really feel anymore.

Charity's eyes finally move from the sky and back down to Ryker's face. She studies the sharp outline of his jaw. The curve of his lips as they pull into a smirk, the bridge of his nose, and the shape of his almond eyes with the explosion of color that they hold.

Ryker looks up at Charity's wandering eyes curiously. Her eyes stop right on his own. Ryker watches as the emotions finally freeze within them. She slowly turns her head to his now wrapped arm. Charity looks back down at him and gives him a gentle, caring smile. Ryker smiles slightly up at her. Andrea stuffs everything back into the bag.

Charity slowly lifts Ryker's shoulders helping him sit back up. Every time he flinches her heart skips a beat. Is she hurting him? Should she move slower? These questions race through her mind on repeat until he's finally upright.

"Thank you," He murmurs to Charity without turning to look at her. She nods slowly. Andrea lightly hugs her brother wrapping her arms around him ever so gently. He brings his right arm to rest in the middle of her back.

Charity sits on her heels watching the siblings. Andrea pulls away and ruffles his hair. Ryker shakes his head vigorously in response. Andrea smiles lovingly at him. The two laugh. Charity tilts her head at them. They are much closer than Charity and her older brother. Yet, they are both puzzles that look similar on the outside but are made of completely different pieces.

Andrea looks to Charity curious eyes and asks, "You alright?"

Charity nods and says, "Yeah, guess I feel a little tired."

Andrea shakes her head and states, "Sure a lot just happened, but you fell asleep before anyone else."

Charity puts her finger in the air and says, "I also woke up before anyone else. Don't forget the facts, Andrea, if you're going to make a statement."

Andrea shakes her head immediately not interested and pouts, "What are you now? A professor? Do you have a degree already Charity?"

Charity stands brushing off her skirt and says, "I don't need a degree to state one simple fact, Andrea."

"Yeah, and what would that be?" Andrea asks with her hand on her hip.

Charity puts her finger in the air once more, but Ryker interrupts, "I have a headache."

Charity motions her hand towards Ryker and says, "There's the fact. Ryker has a headache."

Andrea rolls her eyes at Charity and murmurs loud enough for Charity to hear, "Yeah right," Andrea's eyes then shoot behind Charity. She then calms and points to an area behind Charity.

"What?" Charity asks turning around. Charity sees a stray being coming towards them slowly. It hangs in the air blurring the view behind its misshapen body. Charity grabs her dagger from her pocket. Taking the leather sheathe off of it, and placing the sheath back into her pocket.

Charity walks slowly towards it. Feeling the rocks beneath her feet press against the bottom of her shoes. It charges toward her as fast as it can but lands straight in her dagger.

Ryker turns to see a black puddle on the ground and says sarcastically, "Wow, a real killing' machine we got there sis."

Andrea punches him in the right shoulder, making sure not to hurt him, and states, "Be grateful."

"For what?" Ryker asks looking up at Andrea.

"She's about to put your arm back into your socket," Andrea says."

Ryker looks at his left shoulder and says,"Oh, yeah. That happened."

Charity sheathes her dagger as she walks back over to the twins and asks, "I'm going to do what?"

Andrea points at his left shoulder and says, "It's dislocated."

Charity nods smiling, she's done this a couple times, and states, "Alright. Ryker when I say ready I need you to inhale deeply. Okay?" He nods as he watches her small hands wrap around his bicep. Ryker waits nervously for her to say the command.

"Ready," Charity commands. Ryker inhales sharply, and deeply. Charity grabs his arm tightly and jerks it upwards towards the socket. A loud snapping sound is heard. Ryker shouts in pain as he jerks in his head to look at his shoulder. His arm was put back into place.

Ryker looks at Charity shocks and questions, "How did you know how to do that?"

Charity shrugs and states like it was obvious, "My mom had to do it a lot on my brother whenever he played sports, and I've done that twice on Andrea."

Ryker then looks at Andrea and asks, "Do you just enjoy dislocating your arm enough to have her do that twice to you?"

Andrea tilts her head at him and sarcastically states, "Yeah, I just love dislocating my arm and having a friend ram it back into the socket. Really gets me pumped."

Ryker rolls his eyes at her, then looks to Charity and says, "Thanks."

Charity smiles warmly and shrugs it off, "It was nothing.'"

He laughs mockingly and says, "Yeah, to you it was." Charity laughs at him and shrugs again. Ryker places a hand on the bruised shoulder. It still throbs, but slower now that his heart rate has slowed. He can hardly feel his hand laying there due to the numbness now encasing the arm. He can hardly feel the fingers on his left hand. Ryker could hardly feel himself slipping into a dense sleep.

Charity yelps when his head falls back into her lap. His eyes are closed.

Andrea calmly moves towards Ryker's right wrist. She can still feel a pulse. He isn't dead he's just resting.

Andrea sighs and whines, "I guess I'll carry him."

"At least this way he won't grumble about the pain he's in," Charity states attempting to lighten the mood.

Andrea chuckles sarcastically and says, "This is coming from the person who could have died a few minutes ago." Charity puts her finger in the air and then gives up dropping it to her side.

"Yeah I guess you're right," Charity whines pouting slightly.

Andrea laughs heartily now and asks, "So you're finally admitting it?"

Charity huffs and says, "This is only a one-time thing, I promise."

Andrea scoffs and remarks, "Hurtful." Charity smiles up at Andrea for an apology. Andrea shakes her head and lifts Ryker putting him on her back.

Charity stands brushing the dirt and sand off her knees and skirt. She giggles as she watches Andrea carry her younger, taller brother.

Andrea scowls at her and groans, "Let's go." Charity walks alongside Andrea with a pep in her step as they reenter the village. Walking past all the impure puddles, and piles of dust as if it had never been there at all.


	12. Chapter 12

Andrea continues to hold onto Ryker as he continually slides down her back. His feet already dragging on the ground makes it harder for her to walk. Andrea's shoulders ache as they near the edge of the village. Charity quickly checks all the house leaving no stone unturned. She runs back and forth between houses kicking up clouds of dirt.

Andrea watches as the small girl runs around losing energy. Andrea hefts Ryker's arms over her shoulders grabbing onto them again. Her back cramps from standing and walking hunched over. She lays Ryker gently down on the ground for a moment and stretches out.

"You can stop for a moment Charity!" Andrea calls out. She hears the patter of feet stop behind her. Andrea turns to see Charity standing there breathing heavily.

Andrea laughs and says, "I guess you haven't really stopped since we passed where we left off." Charity nods her hands on her knees as she catches her breath.

She coughs and asks, "You sure you don't want help with him?" Charity motions to Ryker who's body is lying unconscious on the ground.

Andrea raises her eyebrow and questions, "What? You're going to be able to carry him."

Charity huffs crossing her arms and says, "Fine, have fun with that." Andrea's mouth falls open in confusion.

"Why are you getting upset about this?" Andrea asks.

Charity rubs her arm and says, "Well I want to help more, but I'm just too short. Huh, Andrea?"

Andrea laughs and remarks, "That's what you're upset about?! I mean sure you're short, but you can still do a lot of things I can't."

Charity eyes Andrea and questions, "What would that be?"

"I'm not gonna flatter someone who's being a brat," Andrea scoffs.

"Alright, alright. Let's just continue," Charity mutters. Andrea laughs some more lifting Ryker onto her back again. She groans at the ache it sends through her. Andrea then listens to the sound of Charity running. Andrea steps on rock after rock until they finally exit the village.

"We should find a place to stop for today," Andrea mutters numbly.

Charity turns to Andrea and says, "We still have a few hours of daylight left."

Andrea nods knowingly and states, "Yes, I know. It's just I don't think I can carry him for a few more hours."

Charity nods and asks, "Where exactly should we stop, though? I doubt we can stay in the village."

"No, we can't stay in the village. We'll just have to stay in the forest like last time," Andrea mutters sleepily.

Charity nods and looks towards Flora Forest.

The trees that make it up are immense in size and look sturdy enough to live for centuries. The forest erupts with the color green, and rich vegetation. Yet, near the top of the trees is a thick fog, it's dark as it hangs in the air. It acts as a warning. Nature's own beware sign. Except this isn't created by the forest, but the things within it, hiding deep inside waiting to snap onto the easiest prey shown to them. They're filled with a want, a want to get rid of everything that isn't like them. Joy, warmth, kindness, love, and hope. They feed off of negative emotions and impulses. Greed, despair, anger, hate, and pessimism. That is what they are made to crave, what they're created to feel. What they thrive in, and devour.

A cold sweat crawls down Charity's back.

Andrea turns her head to where Charity is facing and states, "It'll have to do." The two gulp as they walk towards the thick forest.

Charity pauses a moment waiting for Andrea. Andrea comes to Charity's side and looks at her. Ryker weighs down Andrea's back as she stands next to Charity.

"I hope he wakes up soon," Charity mutters. Andrea's eyes widen slightly at the suddenness of her words.

Andrea looks over her shoulder to see Ryker unconscious and states, "He will. Ryker's strong." Charity nods in response and begins to walk slowly towards the forest, making sure to keep pace with Andrea. Charity watches her feet as she walks forward. Left, right, left, right moving to the beat of her heart. The inhales and exhales of her breathing.

A cough is heard. Charity looks up at Andrea just as Andrea turns her head to look behind her. Ryker was starting to cough. Charity's hands are in the air not knowing what to do.

Andrea grabs one of Charity's flailing hands and coos, "Hey, he's fine. Just help him up off my back." Charity nods to Andrea and grabs Ryker's shoulders. He groans in pain as she clasps his left shoulder. Charity quickly releases her grip on the left one, putting him off balance. Ryker starts to fall sideways. His balance is completely off as Charity quickly wraps her arm around his back. She catches him but strains to lift him. Andrea turns and easily lifts him to his feet.

"What?" Charity mutters to herself under her breath. Andrea rests her hand lightly in the middle of Ryker's back. Charity stands there behind the two still in awe. Charity shakes her head slightly then looks at Andrea.

"Shouldn't we be going towards the forest?" Charity asks.

Andrea stops with Ryker and says, "Yep, it's the other way." Andrea grabs Ryker's shoulders and turns him towards Flora Forest.

They continue walking towards the forest with Charity at the front counting the steps back to their soon to be "camp" if you can call it that.

Andrea sees Charity's concentration and questions, "What are you doing?"

This woke Charity from her trance and so she looks around her and questions, "What?"

"What do you mean what?"

"I am sorry I wasn't paying attention to what you said. So… I asked."

"I asked what you were doing?"

"Oh."

"So…"

"So…"

"What were you doing?"

"I can't remember."

"You were looking at your feet as you walked."

"Oh. I don't know I guess it kind of calms me."

Andrea nods and comments, "That's weird."

"That's coming from the person who lives here," Charity scoffs throwing her hands in the air. She lets them rest at her sides as she turns to see Andrea.

Andrea holds her finger in the air and retaliates, "So do-"

"Andrea!" Ryker sternly says. Andrea lowers her finger and calms herself. Charity raises an eyebrow at Ryker's sudden words.

"Let's keep going," Andrea mutters.

Charity turns wondering what Ryker stopped Andrea from saying. She bites her lip and takes a step into the dense forest.

The air is much more humid here, making it seem thicker each time they inhale. Charity wipes the sweat from her brow as she moves low branches for Ryker. He nods thanks as he walks past. Charity slowly moves the branch to its original position.

Ryker coughs and says, "This'll do." Andrea lets go of him as he leans against a tree. Charity squats down and allows herself to fall onto her bottom. She sits there staring at the immense number of shrubbery around them. The amount of green in this forest was alarming compared to Radiate Forest. That would explain why they named it Flora Forest.

Andrea slides down a tree to a sitting position and stretches her long legs. She stretches her arms behind her back, pressing them against the tree trunk. Sweat beads along her hairline.

Andrea sighs and complains, "I never get used to the humidity here."

Ryker nods in agreement and asks, "Can you help me sit?" Andrea nods and quickly gets up to help him, guilt lingering in her eyes. She slowly lowers Ryker to the ground.

Charity furrows her brow and questions, "Your legs work just fine. Why can't you sit down?"

Ryker sighs finally relaxing and explains, "Because just plopping down would send a jolt through my body and then to my arm. Creating pain I do not wish to have."

Charity nods and utters, "Oh."

Andrea stays standing and says, "We should probably make some sort of fire, but everything here is too saturated to light on fire."

Ryker shrugs and mutters, "Oh well."

Charity frowns slightly, not feeling comfortable with her surroundings. Yet, what part of comfort could be found in a place like this in its condition? The answer is none of it.

Ryker looks to where they came from and says, "Might as well sleep while you can."

Andrea nods and sits across from Ryker. Charity making the triangle shape once more stays where she is and falls backwards into the shaded grass. Hardly any sunlight is still seeping across the sky and through the trees.

Her eyes wander over the landscape above her. Green, more green, and oh some brown. Then the purple and orange sky that is barely visible through the large leaves and numerous branches. She smiles regardless as a cool breeze suddenly sweeps around them. Charity laughs lightly. The twins look at her raising their eyebrows.

Charity sits up and says, "Everything's so pretty here."

Andrea laughs at Charity and mutters, "That was random." Charity smiles a wide, goofy smile. Making Andrea smile wider relieving some of the sadness in her eyes. She makes herself comfortable against the tree closing her eyes, but the smile still tugs at her face.

The sun slowly sets enveloping the three in darkness once more.

Andrea quickly falls asleep. Charity just lying on the ground closes her eyes.

Her hands lay softly on her abdomen while her legs are straight and pressed together. She looks like a corpse waiting peacefully for oblivion to overtake her at any moment. Yet, it never comes and she becomes restless. A frown settles over her face as she digs a small twig out from under her back. She tosses it lightly into the darkness around her.

A thump is heard where she tossed it. She sits up to see Ryker walking towards the exit of their "camp". She tilts her head and gets on her knees. Charity watches him disappear into the distance. She quietly gets up and follows him.

Charity watches as he steps out of the forest and takes a few more steps before slowly and gently sitting down. His arms rest ever so lightly on his knees.

"You shouldn't be out here alone," Charity says quietly. Ryker's head quickly turns to her. Startled he sighs and looks back out over the village.

Ryker sighs again and explains, "I think I'll be fine."

Charity sighs as well and mutters, "You think." She has his attention again as he turns to her. She smiles and he shakes his head and looks away again.

Charity takes a step closer, then a couple more. The air thick between them, she sits down next to him.

"You shouldn't be alone," Charity says again.

Ryker snickers and questions, "Why because I'm hurt?"

Charity shakes her head and says, "No."

"Then what?"

She looks into his sad blue eyes with her radiant green eyes. They seem larger than usual, easier to look into and read. For some reason that scares Ryker so he breaks the contact and looks in front of him at the beginning of the grasslands.

"Because you're lonely," Charity says breaking the soft silence that had settled over them. A twinge of something settles deep within him at that, it was quite obvious, wasn't it?

He looks back at Charity the silence settling again. A soft, pleasant silent. Something so strong, but was also painfully simple.

Charity motions towards his arm. He nods. She slowly grabs it with both hands. Charity gently places a kiss in the middle of the gauze. She smiles widely a slight blush coming to her cheeks.

Ryker stares at his arm for a moment then looks up at her. She slowly places his arm next to him. Strangely the throbbing has left his arm. He looks back at his arm then up to her slightly amazed, and extremely curious.

Charity scratches the back of her neck, looking out in front of them, and explains her actions, "Sorry, when I was younger my mother would always do that when I got hurt. I always felt instantly better even if it is childish."

Ryker chuckles and says, "That is completely unrealistic." Charity smiles still looking at anything other than him. She pulls her knees to her chest and rests her chin there.

Charity tilts her head as she watches the distance and states, "So is Hydrangea." She then stands and looks at him only to wave a small goodbye before walking away.

Ryker shakes his head looking out into the distance and murmurs, "So are you."


	13. Chapter 13

Ryker returns to their resting area. He sits down once more. Ryker looks at Charity resting up against Andrea. She looks to be asleep. Her breathing slow, and her eyelids resting peacefully. He sighs enjoying the silence between all three of them. Ryker closes his own eyes.

He tries relentlessly, but can't seem to sleep. Ryker sighs and does something his mother took advantage of.

Ryker lightly clears his throat and sings,

"Go to sleep young one

It's time to say goodbye

Lay your head upon the ground

I will tuck you in so tight

Say your prayers and they'll be answered

Dream of dreams so light

Lay your head upon the ground

It's time to say goodbye

Oh lay your head upon the ground

It's time to say goodnight." He finishes and suddenly feels very calm. His eyes heavy with the want for sleep.

He chuckles and says, "Mom always knew best."

As soon as his eyes close Charity's flash open. The song so tenderly familiar. How does she know that song? Then it all came flashing back to her. A headache grips her full attention as she grabs the sides of her head attempting to make it end. It was as if someone was slamming her head into a wall repeatedly side to side, or taking a hammer to it. Charity's vision suddenly blanks and goes shades of white and gray. Charity's senses dulling painfully, and then shooting back stronger overloading her system. She cries out but her throat is clenched so tightly that not even air can get out, or in. Then it stops so abruptly she passes out.

Everything that happened the other night was coming back to her but in a dream. She could see herself walking and Ryker following curiously. She lay on the ground, but he never woke her. Instead, he joined her there on the ground. Ryker looks so peaceful while he laid there next to her. Then he suddenly sits up. He looks to her and lifts her. Ryker carries her back to their first "camp". On the way, she said something, but couldn't make it out. All she knows is that the sky. Oh, the sky that night. It was so elegant as if a painter fluently placed the brightest glitter across the dark sky that very night.

Her "dream" ends. She sits up her body forcefully gulping in air. Everything slows all at once. Charity grips her chest as her body shakes with painful hiccups and slowly goes back to normal. Her breathing slows and she falls unconscious and dreams of a soothing nothing.

Ryker, though, can only dream of the color green and pink. Two colors not commonly put together. Yet, his mind did it anyway. The colors meant something to him. Though he didn't know what yet. He would come to realize it soon. The colors, though, they all tie back to Charity. Her green eyes that show everything she's feeling making her emotions vulnerable, but are so alluring at the same time. Charity's pink dress that flowed in the wind and suited her perfectly. In his dream, he could smell lavender and vanilla. The same scent Charity would use before coming here. So, Ryker dreams of her for the night. The first tranquil dream he was having for a very long, long time. Lucky him.

Andrea stirs across from him. A nightmare unfolding in her thoughts and taking over her dreams.

 _The ground is soaked in crimson red. The sky is a darker shade of red. Her hands are covered in the same red. Then something falls onto her hands. Something cool and wet. Her tears. They fall one by one down her cheek and onto her hands. Andrea cups her hands to catch them all not allowing the corrupted dirt below her have the satisfaction of obtaining them. Her sadness seemed to be spilling out of her with each painful sob and choke. Though she was once told that no amount of crying will get rid of all the pain. Who told her that? Who ripped the hope out of her hands? Wasn't it Ryker? Yes, a week after their father passed She was so young she almost couldn't recall it. Yet, miraculously it was still sitting there in her mind. That one scene in her mind forever. Clamped onto her like the blood on her hands that was melting away with each tear that fell on them. Her small hands signifying youth although she was young she's already seen so much. Too much. That it might push her over the edge and down into a canyon that scares her even now. She was watching now daily as her mom was just barely holding onto that ledge before letting go. How does she do it? How does she hold on? In the midst of these thoughts something plunges through her. The pain so significant it almost wasn't there. It swept through her so easily, so effortlessly. Andrea slowly turns her head to see a man standing behind her, or was it something else. Something more sinister and deadly. A thing that had taken everything from her. Everything, but two very relevant things in the now. Yet, where was now? A younger version of herself looks up at the red sky as a fresher red spills out of her. Matching with the sky. A very pretty sky that has been corrupted like everything else around her._

A breeze sweeps over the three of them. It caresses each one of them gently, like a mother's touch. The gentle wind blew across the land stilling everything. Just for the night. Just to keep them safe.

Charity's dream ends when the sky on the horizon is just a navy blue and the birds haven't even started to sing yet so she immediately falls back to her sleeping position. She tries to sleep for an hour or so but all she really does is twist and turn and twist some more. Charity by the end of the hour has announced herself so much that she just sits up and looks at the others. 'Andrea looks so uneasy' Charity thinks to herself. She naturally felt sorry for her friend then she also realized that she was afraid to move because she did not want to wake her and was not sure how easy it would be to wake Andrea.

Charity glances over at Ryker afraid he might be awake. She didn't want to have to say something to him. Looking at him brought her peace, however, seeing him so… Wait a minute is he smiling? She didn't think he could do much more than smirk and now he is smiling in his sleep. 'What would make him smile? What if he sings the song again? What does he remember of that night? Does he know what I said? Is that why he asked If I had seen the sky?'

The questions keep flying through her brain and it feels like a level 4 twister until something saved her from her own chaotic thoughts. One of the black shadow like figures barely seeable in the light had wandered dangerously close to the three of them, Charity knew what she had to do. She got up ever so slowly and crept toward the creature, her heart reminded her of a young puppy running nonstop. She inches toward the creature floating above the ground. The unholy thing makes several clicking noises looking for something to attack. Charity unsheathes her dagger and makes her move. She drives her silver dagger into the being and watches as it melts into a mere puddle of dark poisonous liquid at her feet.

Charity sighs and looks at the twins sleeping. Good, she didn't wake them. She smiles and plops onto the ground. Her dagger stays in her hand as she watches the sky brighten.

Andrea stirs next to Charity. Charity frowns with concern at her friend. A bigger frown is placed on Andrea's face as she furrows her brows. Charity crawls closer to Andrea and lets Andrea lean up against her small frame.

Charity's eyes wander to Ryker across from them. His smile still there, his arms crossed against his chest, his jet black hair tousled by the wind. She smiles at him. She can't help it. She likes his smile. Without realizing Charity burns the look into her mind. A sweet memory she can look back on, one to make her smile.

Charity laughs lightly to herself and looks towards the entrance of the "camp". The sun is slowly coming up sending bright, single rays of light across the sky and land. Destroying the darkness of night and opening up to the gentle warmth of the day. Charity smiles happily as she bathes in a single ray of sun. It warms her. She closes her eyes when it protrudes to her face. Charity suddenly realizes she should have gotten more sleep. Charity forces her eyes back open and shrugs the sleep off.

Charity's eyes go back to the sky and then Ryker. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees it the creature she had killed. She decides it would be best for her to hide it but she looks back to Andrea. She looks down and thinks of how much she just wants it to clean itself up and looks back at the black puddle again. Looking at it made her remember the bad things of Hydrangea. The things that shouldn't, but did define what it is now. She wants to show her sister the greatness of it all, but not the bad. Not the things like that. Charity wants to protect her sister from unholy things such as itself and her friends.

 _Charity sits in her backyard bathing in the sunlight holding her two-year-old sister in her lap. They were playing ball, but she got scared of a bug. So Charity scooped her up into her lap._

 _Charity stands with her little sister snuggling against her a few tears wetting her eyes. Charity opens the sliding glass door and enters the living room. She closes the door and sets down Tryn. Tryn immediately runs to her mother folding laundry on the floor. Tryn knocks down stacks of neatly folded laundry on her way over. Her mother lifts Tryn up into her arms and snuggles the toddler lovingly._

 _Charity smiles and apologizes, "Sorry I tried to keep her occupied outside, but there was a bug."_

Her mother shakes her head and says, " _Oh, it's fine. You did what I asked you to, and I got a bit done." Her mother says gesturing to the folded clothes with her eyes. Charity smiles wider at the praise and sits down grabbing a shirt and begins to help fold._

The next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake. The dream was so real, however, that Charity was disoriented.

She complains, "Five more minutes. Isn't it the weekend?!" Charity hears a deep laugh making her eyes open wide as she begins to freak out.

Charity falsely realizes something and yells, "Get out of my room Max! You..."

Ryker never let her continue because he covered her mouth with his hand and then responds, "What room? Stop yelling or you will wake up Andrea!"

"Wha…"

"I wanted to ask you before you started freaking out, what happened when I fell asleep? You and Andrea were not next to each other, and that wasn't there," he proclaims as he points to the remains of the dark creature.

"I meant to clean that up," she states disappointedly.

Ryker sighs and restates, "When did you kill it?"

Charity thinks but can't find the answer. She doesn't remember falling asleep at all. 'How long ago was it? When did Ryker wake up? Does he remember last night?! Why did I do that?'

"A while ago," Charity mutters under her breath. "I have a question for you now," she continues but doesn't mutter this time.

"No surprise, you tend to have a lot of questions," Ryker sneers.

"What? Are you inferring that I'm nosy?"

"Is that your question?" Ryker asks clearly knowing what she meant.

"No, it isn't what I was planning on asking you… you tease! I wanted to ask why you had asked me about the sky the other day?"

Ryker's heart was beating faster now. He almost thought it might not be beating at all. He could feel the warmth on his cheeks. It was the first time in a long time his face gave him away and it was the scariest thing in the world. He wonders if she remembers that night. How he was holding her in his arms. How she so peacefully slept in them.

He couldn't think of what to say and says, "Oh." He sounded so unpleased with the question that Charity broke eye contact. She looks at the sky that breaches through the tree on her left.

Ryker continued, "No reason." He stopped looking at her and soon got lost in trying to find an answer to his own question. He clearly knew, but she wasn't saying anything.

Just then Charity brought him out of his thoughts by saying, "I understand," with a sad tone haunting her voice.

"You do?" He asks. What does she mean by that? _I understand_. What does she understand?

"Yes, I understand! I know you don't like me. I'm not an idiot Ryker! You insult me every chance you get."

"Please quiet down or you're going to wake Andrea!" Ryker pleads. He doesn't want to get hurt anymore. Waking her would do nothing but that.

" Oh, NOW you're trying to be nice. NOW you say please when I call you out on..." but Charity could not finish because her eyes became itchy. She has no clue why she was getting so worked up over Ryker not telling her! She had no control over her emotions. She was so tired of everything seemingly happening against her. 'Stop taking everything so personally.'

Though he didn't know why Ryker blurts, "I'm sorry that isn't what I meant I… I… Do you remember anything that happened that night?" Then he impulsively uses his right hand to turn her face towards him. He gently moves her chin to point at him.

Charity moves his hand off her face and says, "Yes, well, kind of, I do not know. I know I said something to you but I don't know what."

Ryker nods and recalls what she had said. He remembers it being cute. Ryker smiles lightly at the ground. Charity raises an eyebrow in wonder.

He sighs and looks back up at her and says, "You said that the sky was really amazing, or something like that."

Charity looks at the sky then back at him. He was unconsciously gazing into her eyes. The small amount of sunlight shines in his eyes making the baby blue lighter and more fragile. Her own eyes were slightly lined in red from irritation. Andrea stirs next to Charity distracting the two.

Ryker stands and says, "I'll find some fruit." As he leaves Andrea punches the air in front of her directly where Ryker was sitting.

Charity gawks at her and asks, "Why do you do that?"

Andrea looks at Charity exhaustedly and shrugs.


	14. Chapter 14

"Where did Ryker go?" Andrea asks rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hands. Charity looks at her and then to where Ryker left.

Charity tilts her head slightly and says, "He went to find some food."

Andrea laughs and jokes, "What a dultz. We still have moon lapses."

"Yeah, but aren't they all bloody from that cloth?" Charity reminds Andrea. Andrea stops and thinks for a moment.

She then nods and complies, "Yeah, you're probably right."

* * *

Ryker did not go very far and already his head was a mess of questions. His questions were the same all over again. 'Why was she so upset? Why was she the only thing I dreamed about last night? Why was she the one to take away my nightmares?'

He reaches a good fruit tree and starts to take some.

The questions continue to race in his mind and he says to himself, "What is going on with me?"

* * *

"Charity w…," Andrea begins to mutter. Just then another demon comes wandering through the forest looking for something to destroy. Andrea didn't know if they should stay still and wait for it to pass or run from and or attack it. She looks to her left but Charity isn't there she disappeared and a rush of despair runs all through Andrea's body like someone pouring ice water onto her. It starts in her head and trickles down throughout her body. Then she sees something that makes the ice travel straight down and out of her toes. The ice becomes replaced with a gentle warmth. The warmth was stronger than what she was used to. It felt good to have it running through her veins once more. It was the feeling hope.

Charity's dagger is plunged into the middle of the unholy spirit. Her stance perfect, and her timing flawless. Andrea was feeling a mix of pride and shock. Andrea sat there as the demon fell into a puddle on the ground.

Andrea, her eyes wide, says, "When did that happen?"

Charity turns sheathing her dagger and asks, "What do you mean?"

"When did you become so confident, and good at killing?" Andrea clarifies.

Charity rubs her arm and says, "Well if you put it like that I wish I wasn't good at it."

Andrea shakes her head vigorously and states, "No, it's a great thing! We have a better chance now."

"I still don't know if I like being good at killing."

"Well, when it's here you want to be, and it's a good thing."

"Yeah, no I still don't like the sound of that."

"The sound of what," Ryker interjects as he walks in holding small orange fruits.

Andrea breathes in sharply while clapping happily and yells, "Sundrops!"

Charity looks closely at the orange fruits and sees strange designs covering the peel. The designs look like a mix of loops and points. The orange color stands out beautifully in the green forest. She wants to reach out and grab one but stays where she is. Her feet sinking into the ground. Her eyes land on Ryker's then move quickly to the ground in front of her. Charity's heart is pounding hard in her chest. 'Why? It's just a bunch of fruit. It isn't him! Is it? Well, it doesn't matter he would never like me, and I don't like him! Right?'

Charity sits where she is and holds out her hands for a fruit. Ryker sighs and places one in her hand. She smiles up at him causing him to take a quick step back startled by the way it made his heart leap into his throat. 'Weird.'

Charity watches him step back quickly. 'Does he dislike me that much? What's wrong with me? Am I too different… too weird?' Charity frowns as she starts to peel the fruit. 'Why would it matter to me what he thought anyway?' She grabs a piece of the fruit and shoves it into her mouth. Charity bites down into the slimy piece of fruit and jumps in surprise at the taste. It was very very sour. Her mouth twists and her lips pucker. Charity's mouth waters and she swallows the sour fruit.

Andrea laughs and asks happily, "Isn't it good?!"

Charity nods slowly and replies, "Oh, it's great." Charity continues to eat as she thinks.

Andrea pulls Ryker to the side and confronts him with a hushed tone and asks, "What is going on?"

Ryker was extremely puzzled, "With what?"

"You did something to Charity didn't you?" Andrea questions sounding confident.

"What?! Just because she might be moody doesn't mean that I did anything to her," Ryker says sternly.

"Yeah, but you always do something!"

"No, I don't!"

Sighing Andrea says, "Name one time someone was moody and it wasn't your fault."

"Ms. Rumple," Ryker states matter-of-factly

"Ugh-whatever! I give up." With that, she went to her friend.

Ryker, on the other hand, was frozen in place as a thought storms through his mind, 'Was I that rude to Charity?' Then he couldn't help but realize he was looking at Charity again.

So he walks up to the two and says, "If everyone's done eating we should get going."

Charity shoves more food quickly into her mouth and instantly regrets it as the sour juice explodes in her mouth making her face squeeze together.

Andrea laughs at her and says, "It isn't that sour."

Charity swallows and retaliates, "It is very sour." She looks up at Andrea.

Andrea smiles wide and says, "Come on, let's just go." She holds her hand out to Charity and lifts Charity to her feet.

The three of them walk out of the forest and onto the edge of the grassland. Most of the grass was dead and yellow as far as the eye could see. Even if the weather was nice with the sun shining. Everything looks dead and forgotten. All the dead plants are now decomposed and part of the ground. You can still see a few strands of wheat springing from the ground, but other than that, the grassland had become a barren wasteland. No one had touched the soil with water or seeds in years. Dirt in patches was dry and unusable. Nothing grew, nothing walked, nothing lived here. The only thing here was the wind that had nothing to stop it, making it stronger. Charity shudders with goosebumps.

The twins continue walking, but Charity stops where she is. Her eyes scanning every piece of the grassland she can see. Nothing, there is nothing here. She can feel it deep inside her. 'Why were they here? In a place so dead it laughs at death itself. 'There isn't any point. Is there?'

Andrea turns towards Charity and asks, "Are you coming?"

Charity takes one step and explains, "This place is nightmare fuel."

Andrea looks around and says, "I don't think it's that scary. Of course, it has had its better days, but it's not the worst of it." Charity continues to walk.

Charity furrows her brow slightly and asks, "What's the worst of it?"

Andrea stops to look at Charity a step behind her and answers, "The place we just slept in."

Andrea turns and continues to walk. Charity slows considerably. They had just spent the night in the most infested place in Hydrangea, and Andrea doesn't even bat an eye. Ryker stops looking at Andrea walk almost stomping.

Charity's lips lower into a small frown as she asks, "Why is she upset?"

Ryker sighs and explains Andrea's actions, "She cares about this place a little too much."

Charity looks at Ryker and questions, "She cares about Hydrangea more than you?"

Ryker laughs and says, "Not yet." He says that and walks after Andrea. Charity tilts her head in wonder at him. 'How could someone live here their entire life and not love it? Even if it meant seeing the good and bad?' Charity walks a little faster to catch up with him. They were considerably behind Andrea now.

Then something happens. A sound comes to each of their ears. It wasn't a roar, but more like something collapsing. It wasn't something very heavy, but it was going to fall a long distance. Charity's eyes wander to the sound to see Andrea falling, but the ground below her is falling as well. A large oval of ground crumbles beneath Andrea. She falls into the black pit of nothing. Alone. Andrea gets no time to react as she tumbles down into an abyss of a black cavern. The entrance was small, but it stretches out farther than the three could imagine.

Charity gasps as a scream gets lodged in her throat as Andrea disappears into the dark hole. The only noise around them is the painful scream finally escaping Charity's mouth. Andrea, however, is silent. Then a thud.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Sorry~Kit125**_

Ryker quickly pulls Charity into him as the first tear falls onto her cheek. 'I'm only doing this to keep her quiet' Ryker continues to repeat this in his mind. She wraps her arms around his back and grabs tightly onto his shirt as more tears begin to fall faster. Charity doesn't expect much comfort from someone she's sure despises her, but she pulls as much from the hug as possible. Ryker watches her cry wetting his shirt, and for some reason, he wraps his arms around her small back. When he does this Charity begins to cry more her eyes red, and puffy. The green blurry with tears. Charity cries out Andrea's name into his chest repeatedly. Ryker can't help but wonder at that moment why he had hugged her back. Ryker stays in the hug not wanting to be inconsiderate. Ryker knows she doesn't like him why make things worse? Why does he care if things get worse?

Charity's tears slowing to a stop and she begins to loosen her grip on his shirt. She slowly pulls away from his grip. His arms falling to his sides as she takes a few steps back.

Charity wipes her cheeks and asks, "I stopped crying a moment ago. Why didn't you let go?"

Ryker's mind stops. He didn't think she would ask him. He doesn't know the answer. His cheeks warm slightly. A long pause of strange silence forms between the two.

Ryker sighs and says, "She was my sister. I'm not the only one who needs to be comforted."

"What?" Charity asks. He wanted to be comforted by her.

Ryker scratches the back of his head and explains, "It's not like I can hug much else out here?" 'Why did I say that?' Ryker immediately regrets what he said because he knows exactly how she will take it. Charity's face goes emotionless as she thinks 'Ryker was just settling for me.'

Charity nods and says, "Oh, I understand." Charity turns back to the hole and wonders 'Could Andrea have survived?'

Ryker reaches out for Charity but doesn't say or do anything. His hand just hangs in the air as a reminder of what could be. Ryker realizes something, he doesn't want to hurt her. She's special to him, but why? He wants to scream out loud, but can't move his mouth. His arms, his legs, his body are still. Yet, his mind is racing. She, Charity, is special to him. Ryker's heart aches as he realizes this, and sees her sad face as she looks down into the abyss. He suddenly remembers an old memory, but one that will help immensely right now.

 _Ryker is playing with Andrea and a girl older than them is walking towards them. Ryker thinks nothing of it. She goes to Andrea and out of the blue kicks dirt in her face. Ryker grabs Andrea and leads her home. He didn't understand why, but he seems to be more upset than her._

 _His mother explains it to him, "It's because you love her, Ryker," and that went on repeat in his brain._

The wind blows around Ryker and Charity. Swaying their hair, their clothes, and the dead grass surrounding them.

It concentrates around his ear and whispers in his mother's soft voice, " _You love her Ryker. You love her…..love...her." The wind vanishes as quickly as it had come leaving behind dried tears, and the cold._

He takes a look at Charity, 'You love her, you idiot, you love Charity. You didn't want to, you tried to fight the facts but every time you tried to fight you fell for her more and more. Now put your hand down before she sees.'

Charity had gone to the hole that Andrea had fallen into, and was desperately trying to see her.' 'How could he make me feel warm inside, and then so easily turn that warmth into ice? He knows just what to say to make me hurt doesn't he?! Face the facts. Ryker never has, doesn't, and will never like you.' A tear falls from Charity's cheek and into the hole in the ground.

Ryker takes a step towards her and says, "You should get away from the hole."

Charity doesn't listen to him and retaliates, "Why should I listen to you?"

Ryker freezes as Charity's icy words slap him back into reality. 'She still thinks you hate her. She's never thought anything different.'

Ryker sighs and explains, "You don't have to, but I don't want you falling in too."

"Like you would care?" Charity murmurs under her breath. Ryker feels a sharp pain in his chest.

"Charity, please. Of course, I would," Ryker states clearly. Charity quickly stands and walks over to him.

"Prove it!" Charity pleads threateningly wanting a reason to believe him. Needing a reason to believe him. Ryker stares blankly at her not knowing what to do.

"I knew it," Charity claims coldly and begins to turn away. Ryker grabs her shoulders stopping her. Charity's eyes flicker to his quickly filled with desperate anger. Ryker does, maybe, the stupidest or smartest thing he could at the moment.

Ryker kisses Charity. They stay there for a moment. Nothing breaking the touch. Until Charity's eyes open wide with sudden realization.

This was her first kiss, and Ryker had taken it in the spur of the moment. Her eyes somehow open wider as she begins to stutter. Ryker's own eyes begin to open slowly as her mouth starts to move away.

"Gahhhh!" Charity screams taking a step back.

At the sudden sound, Ryker screams, "Ahhhhh!" They stay there screaming for a moment.

Ryker stops screaming causing Charity to stop screaming. They stare at each other. Charity takes a step closer to him. Ryker takes a step closer as well. They kiss again.

Charity's eyes widen and she screams, "Gahh! Why do we keep doing that?!"

Ryker falls backward at the sound so close to his eardrum.

He holds his head and yells, "Ahh! I don't know!" Charity falls to her knees and laughs.

Ryker opens his mouth agape at her and asks, "Why are you laughing?"

Charity smiles and falls onto her back saying, "I don't know." Ryker stares at her and snickers. She sits up to look at him.

"Why are _you_ laughing?" Charity questions.

Ryker smirks shaking his head and says, "I don't know."

Charity smiles warmly as her cheeks begin to produce a pink color. She turns away touching her lips. 'Why don't I hate him for doing that? He took my first and second kiss, but I don't care. He likes me.' Charity smiles wider.

A loud bang is heard. Charity turns quickly to look at Ryker. His head is looking straight at the hole.

A loud echo like voice says, "Why do I hear a lot of screaming?"

Charity gasps and crawls closer to the hole and screams, "Andrea! You're alive! Oh, thank goodness." Tears of joy well up in Charity's green eyes again as hope glows warmly in the pit of her.

Andrea coughs and explains, "I don't know how far I fell, but I'm going to look for an exit."

Charity smiles happily and asks, "Wait, are you hurt?"

Andrea can feel the kindness in Charity's voice and smiles as she states, "I twisted my ankle pretty badly. I have cuts on my arms and legs, but otherwise, I'm still alive. I want to ask before I go, should I use magic to help me see?"

Ryker says thoughtfully, "Well we don't know what's down there. Some things don't like the light so the light might not be helpful. We wouldn't want you to get hurt any worse and without a light, you could trip or worse so a light would be helpful there. I don't know you could be in danger either way, but I think If something is down there it would most likely do something worse than trip you. So I would go without the magic. In the end, it's your choice."

Andrea says, "I think I'll listen to you, so I'm going without. I still don't know what you guys were screaming for! What were you screaming for?"

"We will tell you when you aren't under us. Okay?" Ryker states.

"Fair enough." Andrea compromises.

Charity nods as if Andrea could see her and exclaims, "We'll be waiting here. Be careful!"

Andrea smiles wider and says, "I will."

Charity turns to Ryker and says ecstatically, "I can't believe she's still alive."

Ryker nods a shocked face on his face as he agrees, "Me neither." Ryker is now next to Charity as he tries to look into the darkness.

"So… What now? We can't help her but there has got to be a way we can be productive while we wait!" Charity states determined.

Ryker raises an eyebrow at her and asks, "You sure are chipper now."

Charity smiles at the hole where her friend was now and says, "Andrea's hurt, but alive. I'm just thankful." She smiles a little wider not knowing the reason. Seems even good things can happen in the pit of darkness that's surrounded by death.

Ryker eyes her carefully relieved to see her better now. Yet, she seems to have forgotten everything that's happened in the last few minutes. He frowns slightly at the hole. 'Did I ruin it?' Ryker stands and walks a few paces from the hole. Charity turns to see him sit on the dead grass. Her cheeks warm when his eyes settle on her face. The blue in them was coldly emotionless. Charity's green eyes shine with happiness and relief. She undoes her hair letting it fall from her tight ponytail.

Charity stands up and walks over to him sitting next to him looking out over the land around them. Nothing. There was nothing, but the two of them here. Right now. Together. Her cheeks warm slightly when she feels Ryker's eyes on her.

* * *

Andrea turns around blinking rapidly trying to force her eyes to adjust more to the darkness. First, she takes a step and then another. With each step, she could feel the fear build up inside her and course through her. As it grows with each step she takes. Her eyes burn slightly as she forces them to help her in the darkness around her. If only for a second she could see, but that would put them all in danger. She swallows harshly as her legs feel stiff. Not wanting to move her feet become brick-like as she lifts them step after step.

Andrea hears patters of what she believes to be small feet. She slowly draws her sword from its sheath. Her foot lands in a small puddle scaring her as the cold liquid soaks through her shoe. Andrea shivers at the thought of it being anything besides water. Her eyes flicker back and forth through the darkness. They can only make out the form of the cave walls and floor. Andrea's adrenaline level rises as her heart pumps it throughout her body. Her pace quickens as well as her heart rate. The pain is numbed with adrenaline as her body becomes stiff. Andrea's breaths became shallower the faster her heart beats. If she doesn't calm down soon she will surely pass out again.

Andrea stops when her eyes shut at the suddenness of a small source of light. Andrea slowly allows her eyes to readjust. She opens them and runs to the light. It wasn't an exit to her dismay but a root. A root to a tree from Radiate Forest. 'Have I gone that far?' Andrea rips the root off. It will emit light for about an hour after being detached from the tree. Andrea holds it out in front of her. The cave walls were getting narrower. With the possibility of it being a dead end, Andrea pushes on. The number of stalactites jutting from the roof of the cave increases as she follows the path. Water drips from the stalactites and onto the ground forming numerous puddles. Stalagmites on the ground causing Andrea to weave through the cave.

She suddenly falls to the ground when her ankle sends a surge of pain throughout her body. Andrea lets out a small cry of pain.

Andrea slowly sits up and holds the root to her right ankle. It was swollen and a deep shade of purple. Andrea pops off her shoe and places her swollen ankle into a cold puddle. She sighs at the sudden relief. She takes her ankle out after a moment of bliss and, lays her ankle on the cold cave floor. Andrea sits there for a moment before undoing one of her sleeves letting it fall to her wrist. She uses her sword to carefully create a small rip at her elbow. Andrea rips the sleeve leaving the length to her elbow. She then douses the cloth in the cold puddle. Andrea wraps the cloth around her ankle giving it support. She winces during the process and leans back against a large stalagmite. Andrea gently puts her shoe back on and stays sitting. Andrea takes a deep breath in and exhales the same.

Andrea gets on her knees and uses the same stalagmite to prop herself up. Andrea sheathes her sword. She begins walking again, but slower. The roots light is slowly fading. The stalagmites and stalactites diminish in numbers as the cave floor becomes dryer. The floor starts to go up at an incline. Andrea smiles with the hope of escape.

It gradually becomes easier and easier to see as she pushes herself forward. Then the cave comes to a stop. Andrea looks up to see a hole about a foot above her. She'll have to jump. Andre looks down at her ankle and apologizes to herself if this goes south. Andrea bends her knees and gets ready to jump. She takes a deep breath and jumps. Andrea reaches her arms out and grabs the ground digging her nails into the ground. She swings her legs tirelessly trying to find a place to put them. Her foot shoves forcefully onto a platform and she boosts herself up. Andrea swings her body onto the ground above and lies there for a moment.

The sun wasn't beating down on her eyelids. So she opens them slowly letting her eyes adjust more. A tree from Radiate Forest is covering her body with its branches. Keeping her from the warm rays of the sun. Andrea sits up and decides to rewrap her ankle. She pushes herself onto her knees and crawls into the sunlight where she lies. Bathing in its inviting warmth. Andrea lies there for a moment before forcing herself to stand. She begins to limp back towards her brother and friend.

* * *

Charity sighs and says, "Do you think she's okay?" Charity looks up at Ryker as she lays in the grass. Ryker looks down at Charity. Her hair had fallen out of the ponytail and now surrounded her head like a lion's mane. He smiles at her unintentional attractiveness.

"I don't know, maybe," Ryker answers turning his gaze back to the hole where she fell.

Charity sits up and puts things in perspective, "She could be down there wandering helplessly in the dark. She could be extremely injured and lying down there. It could be even worse she could be dead Ryker! We would never even know because we can't help her. We're up here waiting for something that could be impossible!" Charity throws her hands in the air as she looks to Ryker pleadingly.

Ryker turns to Charity and cups her cheek in his hand. Her face turns warm and pink under his hand. He smiles kindly at her reaction. She pouts and looks away from his eyes. Her arms fall to her sides. Ryker releases her cheek at her sudden calmness.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Ryker says without understanding.

"You made me so calm all of a sudden. How?" She restates.

"How would I know?" Ryker states. Charity laughs.

"What's so funny?" Ryker says with concern.

"The way you asked!" Charity says laughing harder. He wasn't trying to look and question in an almost, if not, stupid way.

"Nothin'" Charity says in a sugary sweet voice.

They sit in silence and the heat grows around them. Charity remembers heat in summers past when it was easier to understand her emotions.

All of a sudden Charity says aloud not really meaning to, "I wonder what time it is, with this heat it is at least past 10 o'clock."

Ryker correcting states, "Actually it is probably nearly 1 o'clock."

They both wait. Charity's stomach growls and Charity says, "Um- Ryker I might be hungry."

Ryker astoundedly asks, "Oh really? Well, look who just showed up." Ryker gestures in front of them.

Charity looks to see Andrea limping toward them. Charity furrows her brows and directs her attention to the ankle hardly hitting the ground. Charity smiles kindly and rushes over to her friend.

Andrea uses Charity's head as a crutch. They waddle back over to a now standing Ryker. Ryker lifts Andrea off the ground holding her in bridal position. He sets her down on the ground. Andrea rests her hand on his left arm with a shocked expression painted on her face.

"What?" Ryker asks with a hint of concern in his voice.

Andrea grabs his left arm seeing what he would do and says, "Your left arm was hurt severely. Why doesn't it hurt now?"

Ryker looks down at his arm amazed and says, "I have no idea." He stares at his arm and removes the bloody gauze. It reveals a perfectly healed wound with a faint scar on each of the slash marks. He then rolls his shoulder to realize it wasn't sore anymore.

Charity claps happily and says, "Yay! One less person injured."

Ryker turns to her and says, "Wait. I think I know why it's healed."

In unison, Andrea and Charity ask, "What?"

Ryker looks to Charity and says, "Last night. Charity, when you came to _comfort_ me you kissed my arm like your mother used to do to you." Charity nods as Andrea looks frightened by the fact the two were alone together at night.

"Well. You are a nymph and some nymphs have healing powers. So you healed my arm with the kiss."

Charity gasps and says, "I have magical healing kisses!"

Andrea snaps her fingers and demands, "Kiss my ankle."

Charity jumps back and says, "What?! No, that's gross it's right next to your foot, and feet are gross." Charity scrunches her face at the thought of dirty feet next to her face.

Andrea reacts, "Well we know who's her favorite."

Charity yells, "I don't have a favorite!"

Andrea responds pointing to her leg again, "Then prove it." She lifts her ankle and shakes it in the air.

"But this is completely different." Charity explains. Andrea eyes her setting her foot gently on the ground.

"I don't have favorites!" Charity yells.

Andrea responds pointing to her ankle again, "Prove that you don't have favorites, and kiss my foot."

"I've done some crazy things already here. I am not about to kiss your ankle," Charity states sternly.

Ryker sighs and says, "What if you don't have to kiss the injury directly?" Charity and Andrea look at each other.

Andrea holds her hand out. Charity takes her hand and places a small kiss on the back of it. Andrea watches as the scratches on her arms and legs begin to close up more and vanish. Relief washes over her as it spreads throughout her body. A chill runs through her arms, her spine, and begins to spread down her legs. The cuts heal slowly as the chill moves forward. It reaches her ankle and the bruise slowly begins to fade. The brown turns to purple. The purple turns to pink until it fades completely. The area was no longer sore. Then the chill runs out of her toes and leaves her body.

"We will live forever, "Andrea whispers.

Charity laughs and states, "I won't."

Ryker nods and continues, "So then we won't."

Andrea frowns slightly and falls onto her back saying, "Thanks, guys."

Charity smiles happily and says, "Welcome."

Ryker scoffs and states, "She was being sarcastic."

Charity frowns and sighs sitting down saying, "By the way I'm hungry."`

Andrea smiles widely and asks, "Do you want a sun drop?"

Charity jumps at the thought of having another one of those sour fruits.

Ryker laughs and says, "I guess not."

Andrea laughs and states, "It isn't that sour."

Charity rolls her eyes and looks at Ryker. When she does that Andrea realizes something. She sits up slowly her muscles calm giving nothing away. Her face relaxed hiding what she's about to say. Then Andrea stands opening her bucket bag. Charity gets excited and holds out her hands. Andrea closes it quickly causing a frown to appear on Charity's face and a growl from her stomach.

"Before you get to eat. Tell me why you guys were screaming," Andrea says threateningly. Charity looks at Ryker as his face goes a little pale.

Charity laughs and says, "Oh it was nothing. I just saw a rabbit, surprisingly, and I thought it was so cute so I screamed happily. I scared Ryker because we were super quiet so he screamed because of it. Then he scared me and so I started screaming more."

Andrea's face relaxes and says, "Well that's anticlimactic." Andrea sits down taking out moon drops and pours water on them to cleaning the large fruits.

"Why would you say that?" Charity asks pondering.

Andrea tilts her head and explains, "Well I thought it was going to be more dramatic."

Ryker shrugs and says, "Like what?" Ryker raises his eyebrows with slight concern.

Andrea imitates his shrug and says, "I don't know. It could have been anything really." Andrea tosses each of them a fruit of their own. Charity quickly grabs her dagger and cuts it in half. She grabs one-half and squeezes it over her mouth. Juice drips rapidly into her mouth at first but begins to slow. Charity swallows the mouthful of sweet juice. The sweetness glides down her throat making her feel warm inside. She smiles happily and takes a bite of what's left.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry this is getting to you so late, I have no really really good excuses besides the more personal options. Anyway, here you go I will be entering in two chapters this is the first of which. This is one of the more** ** _fun_** **chapters. -Kit**

Andrea finishes her moon drop and asks, "Well should we keep going then?" Andrea stands, her ankle no longer causing her grief. She smiles throwing the bucket bag over her shoulder.

Charity stands brushing her dress off and replies, "Okay." Ryker stands walking over to the girls.

Ryker looks around and asks, "Do we know what direction we want to go?"

Andrea points the opposite direction of the village and says, "South."

Charity nods and says, "Onward march." Charity begins marching south. Ryker rolls his eyes, but a sweetness is hidden within them. Andrea walks behind the stomping Charity and can't help but smile. Ryker follows after them silently annoyed.

Charity stops marching. She sees something. In the distance is a triangular shaped structure. Andrea stops as well and wonders why Charity did.

Charity points at the structure and says, "I might have found what we've been looking for." Andrea squints her eyes slightly and sees the tepee like structure. Andrea looks to Ryker and they both draw their swords. Andrea grabs Charity's shoulder and pushes her behind her. Ryker strides in front of the two. He stops a few feet in front of them. His face is full of confusion.

Ryker sheathes his sword and says, "What?"

Andrea strains her ears to hear him clearly and asks, "What do you mean?"

Ryker put up his hand and explains, "It's safe." Andrea sheathes her sword and Charity's body that had been stiff with worry relaxes. Charity pats down her windblown hair and peeks out from behind Andrea. Ryker smiles at her.

Andrea and Charity walk to either side of Ryker. In front of them is a small tepee made of grass. In front of it was a short old lady. Her gray hair fell to the ground she was sitting one. Her eyes are shut and she has her hands draped over her knees. She was holding a dead crow in her left hand and a shuck of corn in the other. On her left side was a broken flowerpot, and on her right is a watering can.

Charity's jaw falls open at the sight and asks, "What am I looking at?"

The old lady's eyes flash open as she yells, "Hueles de un buen vino y burro!" The three stand in front of her slightly scared, but mainly confused. The old lady lifts the crow and the corn and points them at each other.

The oldy lady chuckles and moves the crow up and down as she says in a raspy voice, "Oh hello today. My name is Chuckles the Squirrel and I can only fly when I am touching cranberries." The three sit down without knowing it and watch as the old lady continues.

"Well hello there! I am Corn your new yoga instructor," The old lady says in a high pitched voice.

Ryker leans towards the girls and asks, "Why are we listening to this?"

Andrea shrugs and says, "I want to understand why she is doing this." Charity shrugs. They both look very confused as they stare as the old lady.

Ryker stands and shouts, "Okay I am officially stopping this! Put the corn down." The old lady sets down the corn and crow and reaches behind her. She pulls out a handful of what looks like cranberries. The old woman throws the cranberries onto the bird and as they hit the bird it twitches.

Andrea jumps and Charity yelps. As the last cranberry bounces off the bird it stops spasming. The girls stand and back up from the woman a couple steps.

Then the old lady picks up the corn again. With ease, she bends the corn in half to a ninety-degree angle.

"Oh, come on how do you even do that?" Ryker says with irritation filling his voice.

They're wasting time just listening to her. Ryker wants to take the corn and… his train of thought leaves him when he notices Charity looking back at him. Charity's eyes are filled with confusion as she fixes them away from the old lady. She begs with her eyes for Ryker to explain the situation. 'Why were they there in the first place? Why am I so confused?'

Charity looks back at the old lady and asks, "What are you doing here?"

The old lady's head snaps to Charity as she says, "I'm a traveler."

Charity nods and repeats, "Okay, but why are you here?"

The old lady's gaze wanders over her surroundings as she says, "This place needs a little extra support. Don't you think?" The old lady digs a hole with her hands in the dry dirt and places a small seed inside. The old woman covers the seed back up. She grabs the watering can next to her and waters the spot of ground that contains a seed beneath it.

Charity smiles kneeling front of the old lady and asks, "Ma'am would you be so kind as to tell us your name." Charity blinks at the old lady waiting for a response. The old lady softly reaches out to Charity. She grabs Charity's hands and places it on the ground above the small seed. Charity feels the moist dirt below her hands. Charity focuses on her hands then looks up at the old lady. The old lady smiles and nods at her hands. When Charity looks back down a sliver of green is sprouting up. It continues to rise and grow around her hands.

It stops growing after a pause of silence as the three watched in awe. The old lady brushes a finger against a petal knowingly. It was a beautiful dahlia flower. Its dark purple petals jut from the center of the flower in gracious numbers. As the petals near the center, they become more rounded and closer together.

Charity smiles wider and murmurs, "I didn't know I could do that."

The old lady nods and states, "You are capable of many things. You have just been deprived of knowledge." The old lady looks up at the twins. They frown and look away from the cool gaze.

Charity looks back at them and asks, "What exactly do you mean by that?"

The old lady stands revealing her small stature and calls, "Follow me, child." The old lady wraps her wrinkled, aged hand around Charity's wrist and pulls her into the grass teepee.

"What?" Charity and Ryker question at the same time.

Andrea lunges forward a second too late yelling, "Wait!" Andrea charges to the teepee to end up right on the other side of it. Andrea scowls looking at the stacked grass mound.

Ryker shakes his head and says, "That old hag is a nymph."

* * *

Charity opens her eyes. She's inside the teepee. Around her is a million shelves supporting a million different things. Charity's brow furrows. The teepee is much larger on the inside. The roof is as high as the trees in Flora Forest. Charity shakes her head confused. She turns at the sound of laughter.

The old lady smiles next to a cauldron full of a bubbling liquid. Floating above the cauldron is a sphere reflecting the water beneath it. In the middle of the sphere is a bundle of colors dancing around inside. Charity's eyes soften at the miraculousness of it.

"Amazing isn't it? The inside of anything holds secrets completely opposite to what it shows on the outside. You're capable of many things young one. You are the one, the one who gets to choose," The old lady explains.

Charity's face is filled with utter confusion and wonder as she questions, "What is it that I get to choose?"

The old lady smiles sincerely and answers, "You'll find that out soon enough, won't you?"

Charity shrugs and says, "I- I don't know." The old woman lightly pats Charity's head smiling wider.

"You're very famous here in Hydrangea. I'm surprised that even you don't see how the things react around you. The trees sway happily that their savior is here. The grass is determined to reach up and grab the nutrients from the sun. The water washes away the bad things purifying them. The buildings stay strong so that you may see them with what glory they have left," The old woman states as she kneels touching the ground, "I can feel them all. They're all rooting for you child. Soon you must choose."

Charity's mind is overflowing with this information as she demands, "What am I choosing?!"

The old woman coos, "Now, now calm down. I can feel that it will end well, that you will do what it is you need to do to save us all." The woman stands and cups Charity's cheek with her doddering hand. A tear slides down Charity's cheek onto the thumb of the woman's hand. The woman throws the tear into the boiling water creating a sizzling sound.

The old woman turns to Charity and asks, "What is your name young 'un?"

Charity gulps and answers, "My name is Charity."

"Awe a lovely name. Your mother is very smart," The old lady smiles warmly as she takes Charity's hands.

Charity smiles sadly and agrees, "Yes, my mother is very smart, sweet, and kind."

The old lady nods and grabs at the air trapping the loving words. She turns to the cauldron and lays them gently on the top of the boiling water. The water stops boiling and begins to float up to the ball of color. It wraps around the ball being absorbed into it. An image on the ball begins to arise.

A girl in a field. She's running around happily signifying her joy in life when two others come into the picture. Their gender is unknown. The girl looks at the both of them happiness swelling up inside of her. Charity smiles knowingly. Then as they are all walking together the ball flashes black. They get separated. The girl is now alone with someone. They try to persuade the girl. The girl has no choice and kills them. The ball goes blank and the liquid spills violently back into the cauldron.

Charity takes a step back and stutters, "N- no that, it can't be true. I'm not going to kill another person am I?"

The old lady makes tisking noises and says, "That thing is not a real person anymore after what they've done, are they?" The old woman takes Charity's hands again, "It seems you will have to face them alone when the time is right. I apologize for the fate you were given child."

Charity's face is blank and pale as she questions, "Who is it? Who was that person? Who's been doing this to Hydrangea?!"

The old woman shakes her head sadly and explains, "This method never shows what you want to know the most. Yet, the other methods have a way of lying to you." The woman grabs some jars off her shelves and sets them on a small table near the cauldron.

Charity tilts her head and asks, "What are you doing now?"

The old lady looks at her and says, "Well isn't it obvious? I'm making soup." Shakes her head at the elder feeling a headache approaching.

Charity looks around and asks, "Can we go back now? I- I just need to be with them right now."

"Well certainly. Just walk out, it's that simple, Charity. Remember you can do amazing things," The old woman says. Charity nods and takes a step into and out of a wall of the teepee. She came out to be momentarily blinded by the bright rays of the sun.

Ryker sighs and says, "It's about time. What happened in there?" Charity sees Andrea and Ryker lounging on the grass.

Charity looks at the dahlia and states, "Nothing."

Andrea shrugs and says, "I guess she's just crazy then."

"I ain't crazy you heffer, " The old woman says walking out of the teepee. Andrea jumps slightly.

The old woman makes a tisk noise and says directly to Andrea, "Oh, vous êtes si laid mon joli petit canard." Andrea scowls knowing it wasn't a compliment.

Andrea points a finger at the old woman and states, "You to grandma." Ryker rubs his temples and shakes his head.

Charity tilts her head and asks, "Hey, I never got your name. What is it?"

"Well I'm most referred to by people as Deb," The old woman states confidently.

Andrea's mouth falls agape as she questions, "Why would people refer to you as Deb?

Deb tilts her head at Andrea and asks, "Does it concern you?" Andrea scoffs at the old woman and stands.

Ryker stands as well and states, "Well Deb, we need to get going." Deb watches Ryker closely wondering something but keeping it hidden in her aged, wise eyes.

Charity smiles and nods thankful to the elderly woman. Deb nods back at Charity knowingly. Charity skips over to the twins already walking away. She now knows what she will have to do. For now, she wants to enjoy her time with her friends before she must dirty her hands.

* * *

Deb turns away from the three disappearing in the distance. She picks up the dead crow that lies next to a pile of cranberries. Deb gently strokes the bird from its small head to its raven tail.

Deb shakes her head at the bird and says, "I'm worried about that girl Chuckles. What will we do? I suppose we mustn't step in. Then the prophecy wouldn't come true." Making more tisking noises she grabs a cranberry and touches it to the bird. It wings flap as it comes back to life. It looks around its dark beady eyes scanning the area around it then looks to the old woman. It perches on Deb's finger. The bird screeches multiple times before falling silent.

Deb nods thoughtfully and agrees with the bird's mindless kaws, "Yes. She will have to face the inevitable, and we will be helpless to do anything. Now go back to sleep Chuckles." The old woman removes the cranberry from the bird letting it fall to the ground. The bird's wings fall tightly against its sides. The legs curl up detaching from Deb's wrinkled finger. The bird's' head slowly lowers and its eyes go blank. Deb strokes the bird once more.

"Good luck," Deb whispers into the air around her.

 **I'm sorry, this is now a story with the cliche crazy old lady.**


	17. Chapter 17

Charity walks behind the twins thinking intently about what she had seen in the teepee. About what Deb had said. 'Am I really that important?' Andrea looks back at Charity who is lost in her own thoughts. Andrea smiles at her catching Charity's attention. Charity does a quick smile and looks away. The smile in Andrea's eyes looked forced, it was a weak smile. It made Andrea wonder out of concern, 'What is on her mind'.

Ryker sighs as he looks up at the sky and says, "We're checking Flora Forest next, right?"

Andrea nods and explains, "Yes. We don't really need to search the grasslands much more because if that old lady can sit there carefree I'm sure it's fine." Charity walks slightly faster to come in between the twins.

Charity furrows her brow a smidge and asks, "How are we going to do that?"

Andrea shrugs and says, "We'll figure it out as we go."

"That's a horrible plan," Charity says.

Ryker scoffs and states, "It's not even a plan, and it came out of Andrea's mouth. What do you expect?"

"I guess you're right," Charity agrees.

Andrea places her hands firmly on her hips and complains, "Excuse me! If you don't like it so much you come with a plan." Andrea points her finger at Ryker threateningly.

Ryker sighs and says, "Alright. How about we split up?"

"No!" Charity yells suddenly. The twins look at Charity shocked.

Charity clears her throat and restates, "I mean no, it's a bad idea to split up. Have you ever seen a horror movie? It never ends well."

Andrea laughs and says, "This isn't a movie Charity. It's far from it. It's real life. If we mess up, someone dies. In a movie, no one actually dies."

Charity shifts in place and says, "Okay, maybe that isn't the best comparison. It is still a bad idea to split up."

Ryker nods and says, "Then we'll just have to make a back and forth motion until we reach the far end of Flora Forest."

Charity sighs and agrees, "Yes, thank you. Finally a good plan." Andrea crosses her arms and frowns.

Charity laughs and says, "Or as good as we can get."

Ryker scoffs and says, "Thanks."

"Let's go!" Charity exclaims pointing towards the dense forest ahead of them. Andrea sighs and turns towards the forest looking up at the towering trees in the distance. Charity grabs Andrea's left hand and Ryker's right hand and runs forward. Neither of them move and her grip slips as she falls to the ground.

"Thanks, guys," Charity murmurs into the ground as Ryker laughs. Andrea smiles at her friend and extends a hand. Charity stands up without Andrea's help and brushes off her dress.

Charity scowls at the two of them and says, "Well anyway let's, um, go." Ryker laughs again and walks forward. Andrea shrugs and joins him.

Andrea sighs and says, "You really don't want to be left alone, huh, Charity?"

Charity freezes for a moment and asks, "What makes you say that?"

Andrea furrows her brow and questions, "What actually happened back there?"

Charity turns and says, "I already told you that nothing happened."

Ryker looks at Charity with concern and says, "You don't even sound sure about what you're saying, Charity. Andrea and I are just concerned about you."

"Really, nothing happened. I'm fine, okay?" Charity reassures them. They nod as Charity turns back around. Ryker shakes his head at her still not satisfied with her answer. Andrea gets closer to Ryker.

"I'm worried about her. She obviously isn't telling us everything," Andrea whispers.

Ryker shakes his head again and says, "She'll spill it soon. You know me, I'll get her to talk."

Andrea gulps and agrees, "You are good at getting what you want. That doesn't mean I trust you."

Ryker frowns and says, "I'm your brother."

"Doesn't mean you won't hurt her one way or another," Andrea says with a sigh.

Ryker scoffs under his breath and says, "Just for now. Trust me." Andrea nods complying to his idea. Ryker walks forward up to Charity. Charity looks up at him. He smiles down at her. Charity smiles at Ryker and looks towards the forest.

The three stop in front of the first few trees leading into the forest. Andrea rests her hand on the handle of her sword. Ryker unsheathes his.

"Is that necessary? We don't know if we will run into any of them right away, "Charity states.

Ryker points his sword into the forest and says, "Even if we get that lucky this forest is very vegetated it will help to have a sword to keep us from ducking and climbing too many things."

Charity nods and asks, "Are you sure it won't be too tiring?"

Ryker looks to Charity and smiles sweetly and reassures her, "I'm sure I'll be fine. Don't worry too much about me, okay?" The sweetness curls warmly around his pupils as his eyes soften. His eyes wash over Charity. Her wind tossed brunette hair flowing onto her shoulders. The dress swaying around her as dirt clings to her knees and elbows. Her emerald eyes greener than any forest.

" _You love her."_

His past whispers this into his ear again as the wind carries the words around him. His smile hardens slightly at them. He wasn't very sure of it just yet, but you can't deny something as strong as love.

Charity smiles as she watches him look over her. His eyes stop on her face. Ryker's face warms slightly as he looks away. Charity looks at the ground and wonders 'how sincere, is he? One minute he's teasing me and the next he kisses me.' Charity sighs out of confusion and looks to Andrea who has no idea.

"What?" Andrea asks noticing the green eyes on her.

Charity quickly looks away and mutters, "Oh, nothing." Charity takes a step past the first tree and the twins follow. They pace through sections of the forest searching for something, anything that would give them a clue.

Charity groans impatiently and says, "This is going to take forever!" She wipes the sweat from her brow.

Ryker sighs and asks, "Are you going to complain the entire time?"

Charity considers his question and answers, "Most likely." Andrea laughs as she stubs her toe on something. She howls out in pain. Ryker laughs at Andrea's misfortune and continues to look around bends in the trees.

Andrea bends down picking up the rock. It was a dark shiny black rock with a decent size. Andrea feels scratch marks on the back of it and freezes.

"Guys," Andrea whispers. Charity and Ryker turn towards her.

Charity sighs and says, "I'm not kissing your hand again."

Andrea shakes her head and motions to the rock. Charity squints her eyes to see the dark shape in her hand.

"What's that?" Ryker asks slowly noticing the resemblance. His mind goes back to the rock found in Sapphire Lake.

Charity gasps finally realizing and questions, "What does it say?" Andrea slowly flips the rock over.

Andrea nervously reads it aloud, "Nearly there." The three of them freeze as they hear the patter of feet around them. Their heads flip around.

Charity stutters, "W- we should stop here for the night. So we have enough energy for wherever 'nearly there' is."

Andrea nods as her head follows the pattering sound until it ends a few feet behind her. She turns quickly and jabs her sword through the large bush.

A crow squawks and comes flying out of the bush. It flies crazily above them. The three of them duck their heads. The bird disappears after a few moments of crazed kaws.

Andrea scowls and says, "I swear if that bird belonged to the old lady!"

Ryker sighs and coos, "Let's just calm down and get comfortable. It's already starting to get dark anyway." Andrea nods and sheathes her sword. Charity sits down and pulls out her dagger.

Charity twirls the dagger around in her hands looking at the leather sheath. Ryker sits a small space away from her. He watches her do this as he listens to Andrea walking away.

"I'm getting some food," Andrea explains before they ask. Ryker nods and puts a hand on top of Charity's. She looks up at him.

"Why are you so scared?" Ryker asks looking at his hand on hers.

Charity chokes on nothing and answers in a whisper, "There's this thing I saw in the teepee."

Ryker nods and pushes, "What did you see?"

Charity inhales slowly finally looking him in the eyes as she complies, "My future."

Ryker shakes his head and says, "That's impossible."

Charity shrugs and states, "It's what I saw." She looks away and at the grass sprouting out of the ground in front of her.

Ryker nods and agrees, "Okay, it's what you saw. Yet, Charity what did you see?" Charity looks to him and starts shaking her head, tears threatening to spill. Ryker grabs her shoulders. She looks up at him her mouth in a frown.

"You don't have to tell me, okay?" Ryker says frantically attempting to get her to calm down.

Charity nods and says, "Okay." She sits there looking at him. Ryker smiles at her calmly and lets go of her shoulders slowly drawing back. Charity's frown becomes small and almost unnoticeable.

Ryker sighs shaking his head lightly at her. He grabs her shoulders lightly once more and plants a small, soft kiss on her forehead.

"What the…" Andrea mutters as she drops multiple green fruits.

Ryker turns to look at her calm and says, "You're going to bruise the fruits.

Andrea grabs the fruits and questions, "What was that?!"

"I was comforting her," Ryker answers.

Andrea shakes her head and states, "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you."

"What?" Charity asks.

Andrea looks to Charity and coos, "Oh, nothing it's okay." Charity furrows her brows.

No one does anything for ages. Charity looks up at the sky above her trying to avoid eye contact. For the first time, she notices how beautiful the trees become when the sun is going down. The leaves look like green colored pencil shavings as they coat the trees.

Andrea's stomach growls loudly before she asks, "Who's hungry?" Charity raises her hand reflexively as Andrea sits down. Andrea tosses each of them a green diamond-shaped fruit. Charity catches it as she turns it over in her hands. Ryker grabs it out of the air with his right hand.

Charity smells the fruit but the outside gives nothing away. She takes a bite of it as if it was a granny smith. The taste of cinnamon covers her tongue. A heat spreads through her mouth. The sugary sweetness of the inside contrasted with the heat of the skin.

They eat their individual fruits until they're full. Charity and Ryker fall asleep quickly. Andrea watches them her eyelids heavy.

Charity turns over and is closer to Ryker as one foul image replays in her dream.

 _She's in the hut but is alone. The bubble is hanging in the air and it expands to where that is all she can see. In the bubble, the image of her stabbing and killing the shadowy figure replays over and over. It's and endless torture that consumes Charity's mind making it weaker and weaker as she cowers inside her dream._

Andrea watches Charity get closer and closer to Ryker. Eventually, Charity ends up burrowed in Ryker's arms - Andrea assumed for comfort - while Ryker unconsciously pulls her closer.

 _Ryker turns around in a dark forest not knowing how he got there. He looks back and forth as he hears screams and rustling, echoing in his ears. Close then far, distant than near. Yet, he could never tell where it was coming from. Then a dark shadowy figure steps out from the shrubbery. It notices Ryker and runs. Ryker yells out at it and follows close on its tail._

Andrea sighs as she lays down looking up through the trees at the stars peeking through at them. She smiles at them and falls into a deep sleep. _Charity's dream goes dark making a sigh of relief escape her mouth. Ryker's dream goes dark giving him a chance to breathe. Then suddenly Charity is in front of the cottage that belonged to the twins' mother. She looks around to see Ryker catching his breath and Andrea opening her eyes. Charity tilts her head in wonder. Ryker looks around at his surroundings and narrows his eyes at the two of them. Charity shrugs and Andrea takes a step towards the left side of the cottage. Their mother's grave wasn't there._

 _A scream stops them. A loud tearjerking cry for help that wouldn't be answered soon enough. The three of them spin towards the entrance of the cottage. A dark figure comes running out of the cottage. The three watch as it jumps off the patio and runs towards the seclusion of the thick forest. Ryker is the first to run after it with Charity and Andrea close behind._

 _The figure disappears leaving the three in a small clearing. They fall to their knees out of breath. Charity scowls as Andrea curses the figure under her breath. Ryker's eyes dart around. The three-blink and open their eyes to the cottage again. They quickly look at each other and nod in agreement. They run to the door and quickly run to the back room. Andrea once more is the first to see. She cries out in pain as she falls to her knees. Charity is again second. In the exact same spot, their mother horribly killed in the exact same way, and the letters on the wall spelling the exact same phrase. Ryker slides into view of the room and his eyes flicker between Andrea and his mother, between life and death._

" _I can't! Not again! It isn't fair! Why me? Why… me… why?" Andrea chokes out as she bangs her bare knuckles on the floorboards._

" _Stop! Stop it!" Charity demands as she catches Andrea's fists. Andrea shakes with sorrow._

 _Ryker's body shakes with every sad and evil emotion known to man. He laughs sadly and falls against the wall. His back slamming against it made it shake. He slides down and hits the ground hard. Charity curls up against Andrea's body the two of them hugging._

 _The things they've seen and the things they've done aren't things children like themselves should have to go through._

 _Charity grabs Andrea's face and makes Andrea look directly in her eyes, "I want you to remember the last happy moment in this life." Andrea looks into Charity's eyes and sees it dancing in amongst Charity's tears. The memory falls and Andrea catches it in her hand. She looks at the small, salty tear and remembers a time she would give anything to go back to. So she could fix this mess. Fix everything. Save everything and everyone._

" _Mom," Andrea chokes out before everything fades and the dream is only a mere lapse of time between night and day._

Andrea is curled up against Charity's back. Tears wetting her cheeks, and the ground below her. Charity is curled into Ryker's chest with his arms around her protecting her, but not. Each of their minds now peaceful. Each of them now devoid of emotion. Together they lay under the sky. The sadness at bay as the tears dry.

A sweet wind brushes through the area carrying a message. A message from a dream or reality? That is for them to determine when they wake. The six words dancing around their heads and falling into their ears. A pure voice. A mother's voice.

" _Remember me when I was happy."_


	18. Chapter 18

Andrea is the first to open her eyes as bright rays of the sun beat down on them. She falls onto her back from her side. Andrea looks around herself. Her body feels heavy. She sits up and looks at everything around her. Andrea touches her hand to her forehead. She weakly with no effort punches the air in front of her. 'That dream was so realistic. Mom.' Andrea crawls away from the two and towards the leftover fruit. She feels the ridges of the diamond shaped fruit. Not the most popular fruit, the Monibelle.

Ryker's eyes open slowly as reality takes over his senses again. His eyes focus to see brown strands. He furrows his brow in wonder and sees Charity wrapped in his arms and snuggled up against him. His face warms. Ryker quickly lets go and sits backing away from her unconscious body. He rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands and looks back at Charity. He takes in a deep breath and exhales quickly. His eyes wander up to see Andrea flipping a monibelle in her hand. His eyes widen slightly, but she doesn't seem to care about the way they were sleeping. He frowns at her remembering the vivid dream.

Charity shoots up gasping for air. The twins' attention darts towards her.

"Andrea," Charity chokes as she crawls to her life long friend.

Andrea frowns, "What is it?"

Charity shakes her head, "I had the worst dream. We were all in front of the cottage and you looked around it to realize the grave was gone. Then there was this horrible, terrible scream. This thing ran out of the cottage and we all started to chase it. It disappeared after a while. Then at the blink of an eye, we were back at the cottage. For some reason, it was like we got a second chance so we rushed in as if we could stop it all from happening. Yet, your mom was there. Dea.." Charity chokes on threatening tears not finishing her sentence.

"Wait," Ryker says.

Andrea's eyes widen, "What?"

"I know. It's crazy isn't it?" Charity asks frowning.

"Not that," Andrea says leaning towards Charity.

"I had that dream too," The twins say at the same time. They look at each other.

"You too?!" Ryker questions.

Andrea nods looking at her knuckles as if they were still bloody and raw like the dream had shown.

Charity sits back and whispers, "Wow." Andrea nods in agreement. Ryker frowns and stands. He looks up to see the bright blue sky full of thick, fluffy clouds.

Andrea stands as well and smells the air, "It'll rain soon." Charity stands quickly and follows their gazes up to see huge white, puffy clouds with dark, shadowed underbellies.

"What about breakfast?" Charity says looking at the fruits on the ground.

Andrea flicks her hand in the air as if shooting the question away, "We don't have time for that. The killer is so close. I swear I can feel them breathing down my neck. We're going to stop this today and if we don't so help me… I- I'll."

"Calm down," Ryker interrupts. Andrea looks over at him. He stares her in the eye asking for her to challenge him. Andrea averts her gaze to look at a concerned Charity. Andrea rests her hand on Charity's shoulder and smiles.

Charity smiles back at her, "Let's go." Ryker nods and begins walking to the left away from the other two. Charity looks up at Andrea who shrugs in response. A sudden murmur of twinkling lightly sounds through the trees and Charity stops, feeling the wind draw back her hair. It stops.

"What's wrong?" Andrea asks stopping herself by Charity's side, Ryker following behind.

"Something's, following us."

"I don't hear anything," Ryker replies. Charity stood holding her hand out to silence them, as the murmuring began.

"Wait I do hear it," Andrea announces, "but I can't make it out."

"It's something…"Charity drops and puts her ear to the ground. She feels the grass poke at her face.

"What are you doing?" Andrea asks.

"I'll repeat what they say." Ryker and Andrea dropped to the ground as well and Charity recites the musical hum from multiple voices's.

" _You'll find them by the sea_

 _Believe you must believe_

 _Or you'll die of misery_

 _So, you must be strong_

 _To move along"_

Suddenly the multiple voices' stop and only a few start talking.

" _I hear them coming."_

" _Hide, there above us."_

" _I know what to do."_

Just then a small seed hits Ryker in the back of the neck, with a tiny plop it falls to the dirt below.

"What the…" Ryker murmurs agitated.

"How did you hear that all I heard was bell-like whistles," Andrea asks.

"You can't hear them?" Just then a seed hits Charity's neck, followed by ten or so seeds falling from the sky.

"Take cover!" Ryker shouts, as the pitiful seeds fall hitting no one and stopping after two seconds. A grounding sound of dirt scraping against a shoe filled the trees above.

"There's something wrong he…" They all turned to see a small doll like creature pulling the bag of fruit from where Andrea put it down but failing as it was too heavy. Grabbing the handle and stomping on the top of it, if Charity wasn't so shocked she would have laughed.

"Hello," Andrea greets it, her words scaring the creature causing it to hide behind the bag. Charity walks towards the bag and kneels to see the small creature. It reminded her of a book of fairies she was given by her father on her seventh birthday.

The small creature has pale skin, it's almost see through. It has large doll-like eyes that peer into the soul of everything it looks at. It wears a dark top with a shiny blue skirt. The small being has only one tiny shoe on its right foot.

"Hi, we're not going to hurt you… what's your name?" A twinkling bell answers and Charity nods her head.

"What a lovely name, are you hungry?" The creature responds with a nod and Andrea watches looking at Ryker confused to see him fixated on Charity, just as confused. Charity and the creature continue chattering till Ryker decides to intervene.

"What is it saying?" he questions, Charity looks up in surprise and then laughs at the question.

"Seriously you're teasing me now," Charity says her face relaxed and bored.

"No, we seriously can't tell what it's saying." A huff left the creature's mouth as it folded its arms and sat criss-cross.

"Oh… don't get upset, this is Kya and she's a pixie," Charity says matter-of-factly.

"Why is it stealing our food?" Ryker questions Charity pointing at the pixie.

"She didn't mean anything bad from it and don't point your finger, it's rude." Charity swats his finger out of the air.

A thud is heard over anything Ryker tries to respond with when a hoard of pixies come clawing out from under the ground behind Andrea and Ryker to Charity. To all their surprise they turn to see Kya in Charity's hands that are resting in her lap. Charity sits criss-cross while a mob of pixies huddles around Charity sitting on her shoulders and hanging from her hair. They turn looking at Andrea and Ryker, questioning their motives.

The Pixies yell a battle cry as they run forward and start jumping on Andrea's head and pulling Ryker's legs. Ryker stands in shock for he's never seen so much effort that accomplished so little.

"No don't attack them, they're our friends…" Charity laughs and all the pixies stop and start hugging Ryker and Andrea.

"I don't think I've ever seen something so hysterical," Ryker says as he turns to Andrea.

"Can you believe they're real?" Andrea asks, still fazed by the pixies.

Charity looks to them and questions, "What do you mean? They're right here, is that rare?"

"Well, there is this myth called the Diamond Pixies. Where deep under the earth a species lay. Named the Diamond Pixies after their unique skirts. When frightened or threatened the skirts fold to make them look like perfectly cut diamonds. They embed themselves into the ground. Many think they are actually priceless diamonds and grab at them. They are a very proud creature and have many ways of using the underground to their advantage. To find them above ground is extremely rare. In fact, they say no one has seen them for centuries. They crave the dark and have trouble seeing in the light. The poor things die if they get too cold so they stay close to the core of Hydrangea to keep warm. The Flora Forest is perfect though. Plenty of shaded areas and it's plenty warm. No wonder they showed themselves."

Charity listens intently as the Diamond Pixies slowly find their way back to her. They huddle around her once more bathing in her warmth.

"I don't remember the story containing the fact that only nymphs can speak to them," Ryker says looking at the bunch surrounding Charity. He smiles as he watches her coo over them making sure to equally divide her attention.

Andrea shrugs, "It must have been cut out. The story is rather old. New things and old things are added with every new generation." She smiles at one sitting on the toe of her boot. It shyly smiles back at her as it looks up.

A twinkle sound is heard. Kya is now pointing at the bag. Charity nods smiling warmly and grabs the bag. They move off her lap as she sets the bag there. Charity grabs two of the diamond shaped fruits. She carefully cuts it into small bites for all of them. They cheer with a million little twinkles and bell rings.

They quietly and greedily eat while Charity says, "We must have gotten super lucky to catch their attention." Ryker nods and Andrea sits. Some of the Pixies scurry over to her and snuggle into her arms as they scoop them up.

The Pixies suddenly jump to their feet smelling the air and looking around the area. A deep growl is heard behind Ryker and Andrea. The diamond pixies squeal and disappear underground vanishing from view. Ryker and Andrea quickly jump up and look behind them. The trees are being knocked down left and right as something approaches.

Charity takes a step back and whimpers, "Guys!" Ryker looks back and reaches out for Charity when the thing finally emerges. Andrea curses under her breath as the creature towers over all of them. It growls showing its yellow teeth covered in blood. It stands on its hind legs using its arms to stabilize itself like a gorilla. The head is the shape of a lions without the main. It's hard to make anything out of it as the creature is made out of smog and is constantly taking on a new shape. The creature's head slowly transforms into that of a wolf's. A fog emits from the creature as it slows, approaching them.

Ryker slowly turns to look at the being, "Charity! Get back, hide!" Ryker unsheathes his sword at the same time Andrea does. Charity nods and runs hastily scattering the small cubes of fruit everywhere. She runs and ducks behind a tree. Charity crosses her fingers and makes a wish. A wish that the deep core of what is left of Hydrangea hears.

* * *

Ryker nods to Andrea and they charge at the creature. It swings its left arm at Andrea, keen claws extending out of the cat-like paw. The arm makes a sharp sound as it swings through the air and takes chunks of trees with it. Andrea smirks cockily dodging it and ducks down under its head. Ryker grabs its attention by cutting at its arm. It growls angrily and falls on all four limbs catching itself early enough. Yet, Andrea is stationed under it with her sword pointing directly at its stomach. The creature falling makes her sword go straight through it's stomach. The unholy being jumps falling back multiple feet howling in pain.

Ryker quickly gets to Andrea's side. She stands flicking the tar-like substance off of her sword. The blood lands on a nearby tree and burns it until the blood is no longer present. Andrea looks hastily to Ryker panic in her eyes. He gulps and looks to the agitated creature.

"Together?" Ryker asks holding his hand out to Andrea. She takes it gripping it tightly knowing his intention.

"Together," Andrea replies and looks at the creature. Ryker grins and charges forward. Andrea stays in her place when the force of Ryker compels her forward. She pushes her feet off of the ground as Ryker turns and swings his arm in a circle. Andrea follows his arm bouncing off of a tree quickly gaining speed and height. The creature growls with confusion at them as it gets up. Ryker aims Andrea at the being and releases his grip. Andrea goes soaring at the creature. It reacts slowly. Andrea lands on top of the being's head she slides onto its back as it flails beneath her. Andrea grins when she sees a glowing green gem resting on the mid back. The gem like spot is slightly covered by the fog the creature is creating. Andrea takes her sword and jabs it directly into the center of the gem. The creature roars and flings Andrea off.

Andrea flies backward and her back slams against a tree. The air is knocked out of her as pain shoots throughout her body simultaneously. A heart-wrenching shriek escapes her as she bounces off the tree. Andrea lands face first on the ground. A crack comes to her ear as her nose becomes numb. Dirt flies into her mouth and her vision goes blurry for a split second. Andrea suddenly forgets where she is as she looks up.

The monster was hurling black vomit out of its mouth. It burns the trees and grass as it comes into contact. Andrea blinks rapidly as it begins to turn to her. She frantically looks around for Ryker. He was nowhere in sight.

* * *

Charity breathes heavily as she hears each roar, and feels each roar through the ground. She looks around her eyes wanting to look back. The curiosity killed the cat and she was determined to not let it kill her. Charity closes her eyes and attempts to steady her breathing. Her chest slowly rises and falls.

A small tap is felt. Charity's eyes fly open when feeling the contact. Her breathing returns to being distraught. Charity's eyes fall to her knee to see a diamond pixie. It was the same from before. Charity sighs happily with relief and the Pixie jumps up onto Charity's lap. Charity flinches at the sudden movement.

" _You must follow me…"_ The pixie says in a whisper as it touches Charity's hand. Charity goes to her knees as the pixie jumps off her lap. Charity crawls after the small creature avoiding sticks and anything else that would make more noise than needed. Charity's eyes follow the pixie as it swiftly moves around and over things. It disappears into a bush. Charity stops as she studies the bush. It's a hydrangea bush. 'All the way out here?' Charity looks over it.

The pixie returns and motions to the bush.

Charity shakes her head and whispers, "I can't leave my friends are in trouble." The pixie seems to debate this for a moment and then goes back into the bush. Charity sighs and forces herself into the bush.

Her vision goes dark for a brief moment before returning to normal. The air is cool as a calm wind blows around her. This wasn't Flora Forest anymore, or the Hydrangea.

Charity opens her eyes to a familiar world. It wasn't her home though. It was someplace new. Charity looks around for the pixie. To her right side was a small girl.

The girl smiles and says, "You mustn't trust Hydrangea."

"Why not?" Charity questions as she surveys the child.

"It is dangerous and corrupt. My family does not recognize the soil we live in any longer. You might be fated to be a savior, but there is a chance of you falling astray. You must not fall astray, friend! We need you! Hydrangea needs you!" The girl pleas frantically grabbing at Charity's hands.

Charity frowns and asks, "Why did you take me here just to tell me that?"

The girl looks to the ground and says, "That forest is poison to the brain at this point. It is good for you to return and clear your senses. Flora Forest didn't use to be that way."

"I realize that. Thanks, it is nice here," Charity smiles at the girl. The girl blushes as a smile forms on her own face.

Charity looks around. All she can see is hills and forest for miles. 'We must be on some kind of national reserve for wildlife.' The wind kicks up and blows with a howling sound as Charity closes her eyes. Her hair flows as the wind brushes through it. Charity enjoys the cool bliss of it. Then falls backward into the Hydrangea bush.

* * *

"Hey!" Ryker yells out at the creature-capturing its attention once more. It wasn't bright, but it was deadly. The creature vomits one last time and stares Ryker in the eyes. Ryker's gaze doesn't waver as he challenges it. The beast growls angrily and charges forward. Ryker points his sword forward. One foot in front of the other. His shoulders square. The dark creature dives directly into the sharp blade. Ryker's feet drag back as the force of the beast wears off. It falls limply to the ground below. A huge vibration is felt as the trees shake around it. Ryker jumps back as the body explodes into the black poison.

The liquid seeps into the trees and ground it hits killing it. A sizzling sound is heard as the stench of it burns Ryker and Andrea's eyes. Ryker blinks the irritation away and looks at the new crater in the ground. Andrea lifts herself up resting her back against the tree as she tries to control her breathing.

Ryker looks to her and then to the crater. In the middle of the crater is a single white pebble.

He scoffs at it and murmurs under his breath, "So much for there being good in the bad."

Andrea wonders, "Where do you think Charity went?" Then she worries, "I hope nothing happened to her."

Ryker asserts, "She's a big girl she can take care of herself. Though I'm not sure how far she went?"

Andrea motions for Ryker to come help her. Ryker walks over avoiding the hole. A warm air emits from the hole as an acidic smell erupts strongly from the hole in the ground. Ryker lifts Andrea. She grunts as he grabs onto her back.

Ryker laughs shaking his head and states, "Your nose is purple."

Andrea crosses her arms across her chest, "I didn't want to break it." Ryker smiles at her comment and begins to walk toward where they came.

* * *

Charity blinks for a moment her body stabilizing to the sudden change again. She looks around.

"Right," Charity murmurs realizing the danger. She gets up and runs back to them. The forest is silent again making Charity nervous. She forces her feet to run faster. She comes to a clearing and runs straight into Ryker and Andrea.


	19. Chapter 19

Charity flies back from the force of her running into Ryker. Ryker takes a few staggered steps back catching his balance. Andrea groans from the impact. Charity lands on her backside.

"Ow," Charity mutters as the pain shoots through her body. She props up on her arms as she studies her surroundings. In front of her is Ryker holding Andrea bridal style effortlessly.

Ryker shrugs and says, "Sorry." Charity flicks a hand at him and sluggishly gets up. Charity brushes the dirt off of her knees and dress. She coughs and looks to Andrea.

"She got hurt," Ryker says laying her on the ground.

Charity nods, "I see that." She reaches out for Andrea's nose. Charity touches lightly earning a flinch and a hiss from Andrea. Charity smiles apologetically and quickly grabs the nose snapping it back into place. Andrea screeches in agony. Charity smiles again, but sweetly as she plants a soft kiss on Andrea's forehead. A cool aura falls over as all pain dissipates into a pleasant numbness. Her body is stiff with the want of sleep. Andrea faints as she continues to heal.

Charity's eyes widen, "Is that supposed happen?"

"I don't know, I'm not the one with the healing kisses," Ryker exclaims. Charity rolls her eyes at him and holds Andrea's head. Charity gently lays Andrea's head on the ground.

Ryker sighs and says, "We don't have time for this. I'm going to continue searching."

"Wait!" Charity insists reaching a hand out to him. She grabs his pant leg. Ryker turns to her silently surprised. Charity gulps and stands. She grabs his right hand holding it in her hands.

"I- I don't want to be left alone," Charity murmurs. Ryker smiles at her and chuckles. Charity looks up at him.

Ryker pats her head and says, "You'll be fine. I promise. Plus you have proven you can take care of yourself and others." He motions to Andrea lying unconscious with the hand she was holding. Charity smiles at the ground and nods, his left hand still resting on her head. Ryker's hand moves to his side as he turns and leaves the clearing.

Charity watches him until his figure fades into the background with the trees. She looks to Andrea who lays on the ground peaceful. Her face still. Charity smiles at her friend and sits next to her.

Charity crosses her arms, "You were always the first to fall asleep every time you came over. Did you come to get away? Was I an escape? Was I your first choice? Ugh, why am I asking, you're unconscious? I am clueless though, aren't I? It's weird to talk to you when you don't answer back." Charity looks at Andrea. Her black hair spilling out around her head. Andrea's eyes peacefully resting closed. Charity props Andrea's hands on her stomach. She looks peaceful as an insentient world wraps around her. Charity tilts her head in wonder.

* * *

Ryker pushes branch by branch away in a constant motion. One hand resting on the handle of his sword, his right doing the rest of the work.

A creature taller than him walks into view and stares at him. It smirks as some of its rotting flesh splats onto the ground. Ryker draws his sword and readies for it to charge. The creature stands watching Ryker. The dark being laughs. A deep sound that shakes the ground and air around it. A sound that makes birds fly and children cry. It resonates in Ryker's soul shocking him to the core. It smirks and runs forward with Ryker finally off guard. The dark creature scratches Ryker's arm and then his back. Ryker falls to his knees, he looks into its red eyes and grabs his sword. The dark creature, however, goes to attack his legs. Ryker jumps over the arm swinging his sword when he lands. His sword glazes straight through the monster cutting it in half. The unholy being falls with a gurgle. Its top half claws its way towards Ryker. He spares it them time and stomps on its skull killing it.

Ryker sighs and sheathes his sword, "I need to get to Charity soon." His eyes look around one last time. They stop on something that lays out in the open on the grass. Ryker walks towards it and grabs the large black rock. His hand feels the words on the underside.

Ryker looks towards where he left Charity and Andrea. He begins running hastily towards them.

* * *

Charity lays next to Andrea gazing over the tree branches above. Her hand reaches up and grasps the air instead of the branches far above. Charity looks at Andrea and frowns.

"Charity!" Ryker yells running into the clearing. He slides to a stop right at her feet. Charity shoots up to her feet from the suddenness of it all.

"What is it?" Charity asks quickly. Ryker shows her the back of the rock. Charity grabs it wrapping her small hands around the slick, cool stone.

Charity slowly turns it over and begins to read the rock out loud like she had to the others,"Don't worry the time is nigh

Soon you all will have to die

With each and every painful cry

Let's make this an eye for an eye."

Andrea shoots up screaming and punching the air. She twirls on the ground her leg sticking out knocking down Ryker and Charity. Andrea breathes heavily as her eyes finally focus on what's around her. She gulps down the sleep and wipes it away from her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Charity asks concern lacing her voice.

Andrea looks around once more, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She stands and grabs the rock from Charity's hand.

"Wait, just calm down for a second. You just woke up!" Charity states. Andrea shows Charity away with her hand. Her eyes read the rock, and then a second time, a third, a fourth-

"Andrea!" Ryker yells capturing her attention.

She looks to him her eyes bulging, "What do they mean, an eye for an eye?" The rock falls to the ground.

Charity shrugs and says, "I'm not sure, but I think they want revenge."

"Yes I know, but for what?" Andrea demands, "What did Hydrangea do to deserve this?!" Her eyes glow with rage.

Ryker puts his hands out towards Andrea, "Andrea you need to calm down."

Andrea knocks his hands to his sides and says, "I don't need to calm down! This maniac, this crazy person needs to calm down!" She shakes as sweat forms on her brow. Charity gulps at the sight of her friend.

"Andrea," Charity mutters.

"What?!" Andrea yells. Charity takes a step back, frightened. Andrea's eyes land on Charity's seeing the terror in them. She's afraid of her dearest friend, hasn't the other already won?

Andrea reaches out for Charity with her left hand while the other is clenched tightly in a fist. Ryker puts an arm in front of Charity shaking his head. Andrea lowers her hand and balls that one up as well. She turns around and runs her fingers through her hair shakily.

Andrea takes a shaky breath, "I'm sorry."

Charity rubs her arm and says, "It's fine." The three sit in silence for a moment. No one talking or wanting to. Awkward air forms around them. Charity takes a step backwards hitting a tree. Andrea turns to look where the sound had come from. Her eyes wavering with grief and stress.

Charity frowns and says, "It's fine."


	20. Chapter 20

Ryker leads the two. They are silent as he takes them to where he found the rock.

"I can't believe you went off leaving Charity alone," Andrea says crossing her arms. Ryker shakes his head not wanting to deal with her at the moment. He brings them past the poisonous, black puddle. Ryker stops his foot landing on the small indent of grass where the rock sat.

Charity looks around, "Why here though? It doesn't make sense. They don't know if we'll find it or not. What's the point?"

Ryker shrugs, "Why would I know? Maybe since the creature was there. They thought if we kill it we might see the rock, or we die trying."

Andrea eyes him and asks, "Did you check the area?"

"No, not really," Ryker answers moving his foot. Andrea looks around a few trees, and bushes to make sure they really were alone.

Andrea nods finally done, "Looks like it's semi-safe here." Charity surveys the land in between each tree. Her eyes stop on something in the distance.

Ryker looks to Charity and asks, "What is it?" Charity points to the rock lying in a ray of sunlight. Ryker follows her finger to the stone. He looks to Andrea and nods over to it.

Andrea walks over to it, entering the ray of light. She looks around the area seemingly safe. She looks around the trees. Andrea stops at the last tree. She peers around it. Andrea's eyes widen. She quickly ducks and crawls toward Charity and Ryker.

Ryker ducks, making Charity do so as well, "What is it?"

Andrea looks at Ryker and explains, "There's a large group of them over there."

"How many were there?" Ryker questions his voice barely above a whisper.

Andrea shrugs, "Maybe twenty. I didn't get a good look." Ryker frowns looking to the ground.

"Did you get the rock?" Charity pipes in.

Andrea looks back, "No."

Ryker groans and crawls toward it. Andrea hisses at him as Charity shakes her head. He ignores them and continues toward it.

* * *

Andrea reaches out for him but to no avail. She frowns and sits against a tree. Charity gazes at her hands an uneasy aura surrounding the two.

Andrea frowns and apologizes, "I'm sorry, Charity."

Charity's head jerks up at Andrea, "Huh, oh, no it's fine you were frustrated. I understand."

"I had no reason to take it out on the two of you though, "Andrea says looking up through the trees.

Charity shakes her head and reassures, "We all have our moments Andrea. Ryker and I can't blame you for reacting the way you did. Things happen that make us lash out. Especially things like this. Your home, Andrea, it's only expected for you to be angry. I would be too, I am actually." Andrea looks at Charity. Charity knows so much but so little. Yet, things happen regardless if they have the knowledge to solve the problem or not.

Andrea smiles grateful to her friend, "Thank you. You seem to heal physically and mentally. Charity you're really something else." Charity giggles and smiles at her friend.

* * *

Evading bushes and stray sticks he makes his way towards the rock. He reaches out for it when he hears clicking and growls growing closer. Ryker quickly draws his hand back and buries himself inside one of the many bushes. The clicks go right above him and over the bush until he can't hear them. Ryker finally sighs and exits the bush. His head bumps straight into the leg of one of them. Before it can make any sound Ryker chops off its head. He pulls off some branches to hide the ashes.

Ryker looks to the rock and grabs it quickly. He begins to crawl away, the rock warm in his hand after having sun bathed. He smiles as it warms his hand with a certain glow he found familiar. Ryker crawls back to the two. Andrea looks to Ryker as he begins to sense the new easiness between the two.

He scoffs, "About time."

"It's hard to do anything with you around," Andrea complains.

Ryker waves the rock at her, "At least I can grab a rock." Andrea frowns and grabs it from him. He shrugs it off and sits. Andrea looks over the words her grip tightening.

Charity studies Andrea's face, "Read it to us." Andrea lets out a slow, shaky breath.

"Enjoy the sunrise as it dies

Now it's time to say your last goodbyes

It's time to part our separate ways

No one will know these passing days," Andrea finishes her body tense.

Charity furrows her brow, "It has to be about midday. We really are close aren't we?"

Ryker nods and says, "Yes, we are. Unfortunately, this might be the last day any of us live." Charity's face falls her body shrinks into itself trying to get away. She knows what will happen to her, but not to the two of them. Andrea frowns at the sight of her friend and wraps Charity in a warm, inviting hug. Charity's eyes open wide at the hug. She looks up at Andrea to see her smiling confidently.

"We'll get through this. Together," Andrea says bravely. Charity nods and hugs Andrea back. Ryker watches the two with a small smile on his face. Andrea looks to him sharing the smile. Ryker winks at her and looks to the ray of sun where the rock was. They are that ray of sun. They just need to have hope.

Charity glances at Andrea and Ryker with questioning eyes. They understand and nod. They begin packing up their stuff and rummaging around the area, searching for some food that they could take with them.

Andrea grabs some sun drops and throws them into the bag. Charity frowns slightly to herself. Ryker sighs at Andrea and grabs some monibelles. He hands them to Andrea who carefully puts them in the bag. Together they wait as the horde of horrors pass. They sigh in unison as they are safe, for now.

Ryker stands and says, "Let's continue." Charity nods stepping out into the ray of sunlight feeling it warm her skin. The tree's sway with a cool breeze counteracting the warmness. Andrea sticks her hand into the sunlight, lighting up her skin while revealing its paleness. She smiles and removes her hand only needing the momentary warmth of it.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Andrea says her eyes focusing on an object roughly 20 ft away. This one was in the darkness covered slightly by a tree branch. It was amazing Andrea spotted it at all. Charity follows Andrea's eyes and sighs. Ryker does the same and shakes his head, he briskly walks over to the rock. Ryker grabs it threateningly and charges right back handing it off to Charity. She frowns and looks at the rock.

"Goodbye sunlight, goodbye birds tune

Your blood will paint the streets maroon

I'd say I'll see you soon

But you won't make it past the next moon," Charity finishes and looks to the sky. The sun is perched in the middle of the sky. She hears the birds in the trees though there is few they sing so sweetly like there is nothing wrong with their world, with their home. The birds are poorly ignorant.

Then Charity recites the horrid poem in her mind with a sorrow in her heart, 'Goodbye sunlight, goodbye birds tune, Your blood will paint the streets maroon… Wait a second… Blood will paint the street, _the streets_ , maybe that's where we need to go. At least we might find another rock there which might get us closer. What am I thinking? We already checked the village! It _can't_ be there, there is no way. At least we know how long the travel should take, '.. the next moon. So we will be there tonight, wherever 'there' is. Or maybe I'll be there tonight by myself.' Charity gets an idea. 'When they have a place to sleep she will scurry off to the village,' Charity nods to herself making it final.

"Charity," Ryker says sternly.

She looks up at him, "What?"

He sighs and says, "You zone out too much. We asked you a question."

"Sorry, but I don't point out your flaws," Charity retorts.

Ryker smirks and challenges, "Hit me with your best shot." Charity freezes and looks to Andrea for help. Andrea shakes her head at Charity.

"You're freakishly tall!" Charity yells spontaneously.

"Or you're just very small," Ryker points out. She frowns and looks to Andrea again.

Andrea gives in, "Fine. Ryker grow up." Ryker looks to Andrea feeling betrayal.

"I'm already apparently freakishly tall," Ryker says looking to Charity.

Charity sticks her tongue out at him and says, "Just tell me what the question was."

Ryker smiles victorious, "We asked you what we should do next. Andrea wants to make camp, and I want to keep searching." Charity listens intently and looks to the sky. The sun was still perched in its high nest but was now a quarter from sun down.

Charity looks to Ryker and says, "I think we should make camp." Andrea smiles gratefully.

"What, why?" Ryker asks.

Charity looks to the sky and back down at him, "You called me short." Ryker's face falls, defeated.

"This isn't fair," He murmurs as he sits down.

Andrea laughs, "It's what you deserve." Ryker rolls his eyes. Suddenly, a herd of deer storm into their little clearing. They're nearly see through, but instead of black, they're gray.

"Move!" Ryker shoves Charity out of the way and Charity grabs Andrea's arm, dragging her along. The deer keep coming, Ryker doesn't have enough time to get out of the way, he gets trampled. Andrea stands with her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Andrea? What happened? Is Ryker okay?" Charity asks worriedly, concerned about him because she never got to heal the scratches on his back.

"Wh- What?" Andrea seems confused. "Where did the deer come from? We haven't had deer in Hydrangea for years." Charity watches them pass. When they all leave Charity kneels next to Ryker. He is clearly knocked out. Charity hears his faint, feeble, short breaths. She grabs his head and kisses him.

Andrea stops walking toward them, her mouth falling open, "You didn't have to kiss him… on the mouth. You didn't even have to kiss his face!" Charity turns to Andrea her face a mask of innocence. Andrea tilts her head at the indifference Charity is showing.

Charity smiles and Andrea asks, "Have you two already kissed?" Charity's face warms and she looks back at Ryker's face. His breaths are stronger now and more noticeable. Andrea shakes her head looking at the two of them.

"Unbelievable. Who knew my brother was such a womanizer?" Andrea says sarcastically.

Charity giggles her face beet red, "I think he'll be okay. His breathing has stabilized and the bruises are fading." Andrea nods and looks to where the deer went. It's amazing that many were still alive at all, but in that direction, only death is waiting for them. Andrea then looks to where they came from. 'What made them run?'

Andrea grips the handle on her sword tightly, "Charity. Drag Ryker away."

Charity's eyes open wide as she asks, "Why?" Charity looks to where Andrea's eyes are directed.

"Oh, that's why " Charity murmurs before linking her arms under Ryker's. She begins to pull and drags him as fast as she can.

Charity uses all of her strength to pull him behind a nearby tree, "Why do you have to be freakishly tall?" Charity looks around the tree to Andrea unsheathing her sword.

"Come out," Andrea takes a couple steps back. A figure made of black and evil steps into the clearing. Charity frowns as she notices its shape. It looks exactly like Andrea does at this moment. The sword, the wind tossed hair, the clothes are all the same. Except doused in the unholiness from the bottom of its empty core.

Ryker murmurs in his half conscious state and turns to Charity. She brushes a strand of hair on his forehead showing a healing bruise. It's nearly gone now. Charity smiles sadly as she looks back at Andrea.

Andrea wields her sword and the being copies her. The being shifts and adapts to the color. It's skin was now pale and it's clothing was more defined. It's hair turns to separate strands. The sword slowly becomes silver as the color slithers to the tip of the sword. Andrea gulps staring at it. The being smiles wickedly.

Andrea charges at it shoving her sword towards it. The creature dodges quickly and prepares to strike. Andrea counteracts the sword flying at her and knocks it out of reach. The sword lands on the ground splattering into a dark puddle. It slowly slithers back to the creature. The being loses its color as it changes shrinking. It smiles and turns into Charity. With a pink dress and beaming green eyes. It tilts its head innocently making Andrea furrow her brow. Then it pulls a dagger out from behind it's back.

The creature smiles the same way Charity would when helping someone. Andrea wavers but blocks with her sword as the dagger scratches against it. The creature ducks causing Andrea to miss a swing. Andrea falls forward slightly but quickly regains her footing before the being can strike. Andrea swings her sword up and flings it down at the crouching victim. It turns into a person Andrea hasn't seen in a long time. She had nearly forgotten how they looked.

"Daddy?" Andrea whimpers. Her father holds up a blackened arm as Andrea nearly cuts it off. His gray eyes pleading as his black hair blows in the breeze passing by. Andrea uses the force of the swing to redirect her arms as the sword barely misses her false father's arm.

"Andrea," The voice of her father says sweetly.

Andrea's knees shake, "I missed you so much."

"I know pumpkin, I know. I missed you too," The being stands. Andrea takes a step back scared and confused.

Andrea gulps and says, "But, but you aren't real."

The being smirks and motions to itself, "I'm right here darlin'." Andrea's mouth opens and then closes. Her brows furrow more as her eyes begin to squint. The being steps closer as it extends its arms out. Andrea smiles as she lets out a held breath.

"Ryker, how do I kill it?" Charity questions shaking Ryker's shoulders. Ryker looks to the creature shaped like his father. Ryker frowns his eyes dead.

"The back of the neck. Don't miss," Ryker murmurs. Charity nods.

Andrea extends her arms as well and lets go of a tear, "Oh, daddy." Her emotions swelling out of control. The love she holds for her father bursts as she gets closer. Andrea smiles happily her father in front of her for the first time in forever. She sniffles holding back more tears.

"We've missed you so much. Mom, Ryker, and I. Dad. Mom sh-she's gone," Andrea's lip quivers.

The being wraps its arms around Andrea cooing, "Shhh. I know hun. It'll be okay." Something silver and sharp shines in its hand as the being angles it at the back of Andrea's head.

Charity charges with her dagger in hand at the back of Andrea's deceased father. Andrea's eyes widen seeing Charity showing so much violence and pointing it at her father. Shaking her head Andrea pushes the creature aside causing Charity to miss and hit the air.

"Andrea, why would you do that?" Charity demands.

Andrea's face hardens with anger, "You tried to kill him. He's finally back and you tried to kill him."

Charity shakes her head at Andrea and says, "The poison of this forest is getting to you and so is its disguise. That isn't your father!" Andrea shakes her head at Charity's words. Andrea's buries her face in her hands as she continues to deny the truth.

The creature's face twists into a vile grin. It's body changes.

"Andrea dear?" It asks with a sweet, sugary voice that glides through the air like butter on bread. The being now has bleach blonde hair and passionate, shimmering blue eyes.

Andrea's eyes widen and look to the new figure, "Mom. You just missed him. Dad, he was just here." At that moment a sword comes straight through the neck of the beast. It had entered from the back of the neck. The head of the creature slides off of the sword. The being melts into a puddle. The puddle changes into a sphere becoming a solid.

Andrea's eyes are now filled with rage and sorrow, "Why?" Her voice cracks as she screams at her brother standing unsteadily. He props himself against the tree at his side. Charity sighs thankful. Andrea falls to her knees. Her hands shaking and her eyes crazed.

"I-I thought they were really here," She laughs and begins to cry, "It was so real. Their voices and the way they looked. It was as if nothing happened and we were still a family. I missed that feeling. I miss them. Holy spirit, I miss them so much. Mom with her kind words, angelic voice, and burnt pies. Dad with his goofy smile, encouraging speeches, and puns." Ryker frowns as he slides down the tree into a sitting position.

"Andrea, you should take a break," Charity says concern coating her voice.

"Yeah, okay," She sits and shakes her head, "I'm such an idiot." Andrea buries her face in her hands again.


	21. Chapter 21

Charity frowns as her friend sits in silence.

"You should eat," Ryker pushes. Andrea slowly removes her hands off of her face. Her eyes pink with irritation. Bags line the bottom portion of them. Andrea had grown paler in a brief moment. Her hands move to the cool grass below her. She grips the grass tightly. Charity looks to her hands.

Charity grabs Andrea's hands gently, "Stop that. You're hurting them." Andrea squints her eyes at Charity attempting to understand. Charity slowly removes her hands and looks to the grass. She could feel their emotions. Charity straightens a bent strand of grass.

Ryker laughs nervously and says, "We should all probably get out of this forest." Charity looks to him shaking her head.

"Pull that flower," Charity says pointing to a small white flower. Andrea smiles at the familiar weed. Ryker hesitantly plucks the flower as Charity lays her hands on the ground focusing her eyes on the quaint plant. When the stem detaches from the ground Charity can feel the weight of its death. It may be small, but there is still sadness, emptiness, and it leaves a pain in her heart. The pain of someone pulling out her hair withers as the flower falls back to the earth where it belongs.

"I can feel the living things around us," Charity murmurs. Andrea pulls up a handful of grass. Charity squints as a pain stabs at the side of her head.

Charity grabs her head, "Stop!" Andrea quickly lets go of the grass.

"Holy… Can nymphs actually do that?" Ryker asks. Charity slowly releases her head as the stabbing pain becomes a small throbbing sensation.

Andrea yawns, "This is too much for one day." She rubs at her eyes and leans back against the old tree.

Charity looks around them. Tall trees, thick shrubs, cool wind, bright skies slowly shifting to dark.

Charity shakes her head at it all, "I don't like it. The state of everything. It looks bad on the outside, but the inside is a whole nother story. It's sad because the inside is so beautiful, but all that bad has tormented it. This forest, this place is just like a person. It has emotions, and needs to be taken care of." Charity runs a hand over the tree next to her. Leaning the side of her head against it she can feel its yearning and suffering. All of the torture it has been through for all this time.

Ryker laughs at her shaking his head and argues, "You couldn't be any farther off. People can hurt others mentally. Sure a tree can fall on someone hurting them, but it can't talk to them. People are a lot worse. They choose, and they pick. What they don't want they leave behind. Their scraps. That is what Hydrangea is. It is just another place leftover because no one wanted to clean up thei-"

"You know that isn't true," Andrea interrupts, "Now you're just comparing it to an old car. Hydrangea isn't a person, or a lemon. It can't be compared to anything because it isn't exactly like anything else. It's different in so many ways, but similar in so many ways. You both have completely different views about it. Even though you two are alike you are also very different. Well so is Hydrangea."

Charity smiles, "That is one way to put it."

Andrea laughs, "Of course you would say that. Never one to be proved wrong, huh?" Charity scoffs at her friend making both of them smile wider. Ryker shakes his head at the two of them.

"Guess not," Charity gives in. Andrea grins with victory shining in her eyes. Andrea can feel her empty stomach, she grabs the bag and takes the fruit they gathered out. Three of the sun drops and two monibelles have bruises covering large portions of their skin. Andrea grabs one of the sun drops with the smallest amount of bruising. She lifts it to her nose and the sun drop emits a smell that burns Andrea's nose from its foul state. The sun drop is very malleable in her hands. Andrea squeezes the sun drop it begins to melt in her hands and become a liquid. She throws it off of her hand and into the forest. Andrea wipes her hand on the ground disgusted. Andrea looks to the other sun drops with bruises. Charity pushes the rotting ones into their own separate pile, her face full of disgust.

The name sun drops causes Andrea to look at the "dying" sun that's light had nearly disappeared behind the trees and then she looks at the forest. The state of it makes her heartbreak as she wishes that her friend will be able to see it restored.

She feels exhausted probably more emotionally than physically, but it doesn't matter to her because sleep is so close. The moon has gone a quarter in the sky and it's light glows brilliantly. Andrea can't help but think it's romantic, almost, so she moves in between her brother and friend. They look at her one knowingly embarrassed, the other questioning her motives.

Ryker looks confused, "What the?" Andrea looks to Charity who has her face buried in her knees. Ryker shakes his head trying to not care and looks up at the slowly drifting moon.

Andrea hands Ryker one of the monibelles that survived, "Here, Charity and I will share the last sun drop." Ryker takes it hesitantly and bites into the monibelle.

Charity looks to the sun drop, "Is it even worth eating? It gave me mouth sores it was so sour." Andrea laughs at her friend while cutting it in half.

Ryker sighs and says, "Charity doesn't like the sun drops. She and I can just share." Ryker begins to scoot towards Andrea as if they were switching places.

"Nope. No, no, no n-n-n-no," Andrea says waving her finger in the air. She looks to Ryker giving him the stink eye.

She whispers to Ryker secretly, "I know what you're up to, and I am not gonna let it happen." Ryker furrows his brow confused. Charity wasn't supposed to but heard the entire thing causing her cheeks to brighten with warmth.

Charity puts her hands together and begs to Andrea, "Please. Stop making this such a big deal." Andrea crosses her arms after handing half of the sun drop to her.

"Nothing romantic will happen on my watch," Andrea promises to Charity discretely.

Ryker sighs, "If you are going to whisper you should try harder. Looking at you Andrea." She turns to him and scowls. Ryker looks to Charity his eyes cool.

Charity gives in, "I told her we kissed. She asked after I kissed you when you were injured by that insane herd of deer." Ryker nods his eyes shut. He sits there silent making Charity gulp.

"You shouldn't have told him," Andrea says, "I was actually having fun with knowing something he didn't."

Ryker opens his eyes a smile touching his lips, "Charity I'm not mad. If anything it is Andrea's fault."

She perks up and demands, "What? Why is it my fault?"

He smirks cockily and explains, "I just like blaming things on you." Andrea frowns and takes an angry bite out of the center of the sun drop. The sourness of it reflecting in her mood.

Ryker sighs and takes a bite out of the monibelle. Charity sighs and eats as much of the overly sour fruit she can take.

Ryker finishes the monibelle and puts the core into the pile with the decaying fruit. Andrea's and Charity's peels are already there. He turns to them. Andrea is already asleep and Charity is drifting off towards unconsciousness. Ryker sits a foot in front of her. Charity's eyes are closed her breathing slowing. Ryker lightly taps her foot with his own. Her eyes blink open as she focuses on him. Charity smiles at him.

"You know what?" Ryker shrugs and Charity continues, "I'm glad you kissed me." Ryker smiles as Charity blinks lazily and closes her eyelids.

"Me too," Ryker mumbles under his breath. Charity turns slightly. Ryker sighs deciding something not entirely safe.

"Charity," He says standing, "Come I want to show you something." Charity opens her eyes to see Ryker holding out his hand.

She grabs it and asks, "What is it?"

Ryker smiles, "I just want to show you something that means a lot to me." Charity nods as he lifts her into a standing position. She leaves her hand in his as he begins to pull her along into the trees.

Andrea stirs and opens her eyes. Charity isn't by her side and Ryker isn't in front of her. She strains her sleep filled eyes to see the two figures scurrying away in the distance. Andrea curses under her breath and begins to stand slowly, her limbs still numb with sleep. She sighs and begins to walk after them maintaining a good distance

Ryker leads Charity happily through the trees. He ducks under branches and uses his long legs to jumps over bushes and picks Charity up over them. She laughs at his excitement and lets him hoist her over a boulder with little effort. Ryker sets her down his hands moving off of her waist. Charity smiles up at him before he continues.

They make it out of the forest and Charity sighs happily outside of the humidity. A cool breeze blows across the long fields of the grasslands and the village. The breeze cools their damp foreheads. Charity looks over the dead grass up to the village. Her smile fades as she remembers the stone. Charity gulps as Ryker leads her to the village the night guiding their way.

Ryker slows his pace and looks to Charity as he stands at the opposite end of the entrance to the village. Charity gives him a sincere smile knowing something bad will happen to him if they stay too long. She hides this even from her eyes. 'For him, to save him,' she thinks to settle the nerves racing along the insides of her stomach.

"What was it you wanted to show me? I've already seen the village," Charity tilts her head looking up at him. Ryker lets Charity's hand slide out of his own as he looks across the demolished buildings.

"There is one building in particular that always has a glow to it on nights like these," Ryker says his eyes filled with innocent wonder. Charity smiles and walks ahead leading the two of them into the village.

Andrea frowns, 'Those two can be so stupid. They are right out in the open, practically asking for the murderer to step out and say hello.' She shakes her head at them. 'They are kind of cute together though,' Andrea thinks a small smile tugging at her lips. She gives in and smiles at the two walking together in the moonlight. She was right, the moon is romantic tonight.

Ryker leads Charity through the village in peaceful silence as the wind blows around them. He happily grabs Charity's hand again as they walk past the scene of black puddles and ashes beginning to fade. Ryker stops in the middle of it all and looks at the cathedral. The tall building looming over the entire village. It's obvious importance looms in the air almost suffocatingly as it holds a tragic story within itself. Soon to hold more than two.

Charity tightens her grip on Ryker's hand, "The cathedral. Wow, it does look nice, now let's go back." Ryker squeezes her hand as a form of non-vocal begging. Charity sighs, she follows Ryker's steps toward the cathedral doors.

Ryker opens the door for a nervous Charity, "Ladies first."

"What a gentleman," Charity says with little to no emotion in her voice. The only thing she feels is fear of what might be hiding in the shadows, or around the corners. Charity takes another gulp before stepping through its large double doors. Ryker follows in behind her letting the large doors creak unsettlingly to a close. Charity jumps slightly at the sound of the doors closing.

She continues into the cathedral a step at a time atop the worn out carpeting. The pews dusty and some holding cobwebs long forgotten. Charity looks up and down each line looking for something, anything that could be wrong.

An old worn out bible sits on one of the pews a row from the front. The cover is covered in dust, but the golden title seeps through shining in the radiant light of the moon. The pages are obviously torn and wilted sitting flattened by gravity and time inside the blue cover. She blinks at it. The book seemingly the only holy thing that resides in this place. Charity looks from the book to the old wooden podium sitting in the middle of the back wall. An old glass mural behind it of a crucified man. She looks to the other windows that contain holy things. Some of them hard to make out by the glass being smashed ages ago.

Charity runs her finger tip along the top of the podium. She brings it up to have a gray finger tip from the amount of dust. Charity wipes her finger off against the skirt of her dress. Ryker spins in a slow circle taking in the space more than he did the other day. Charity looks at him, 'He seems happy in here,' she thinks watching him. He stops and looks at her. Ryker smiles making her smile back at him a slight blush coming to her cheeks.

"I told you it was nice in here at night," Ryker says his voice slightly above a whisper. His voice sliding on the wind that blows through the broken windows. Charity looks at the moonlight streaming in through the holes and bouncing off objects back to the color in the windows creating a ray of nearly every color shown across the floor.

"It's very charming," Charity mutters looking across the floor of the cathedral.

Ryker sits in one of the many rows of pews, "I would come here trying to find guidance. When I really couldn't take everything around me I would sit in this spot and look up at every single window. Until I found what I was looking for." Charity smiles at him seeing the kid waver in his eyes for a moment as he looked over each window.

"That sounds like something you would do. Find a solution," Charity mutters looking into his tormented blue eyes. They look right back at her full of wonder. Suddenly Ryker looks to the entrance.

"Wait here," He says quietly as he walks towards the large double doors.

Charity's eyes widen, its time, she calls out to him in a whisper, "Wait, Ryker. Please, don't. I don't want to be alone." Her voice catches in her throat at the last sentence. He doesn't hear a single word she says to him. Ryker's hand rests on his sword's handle as he walks to the entrance.

* * *

Andrea rests her back alongside the wall of the cathedral. Ryker and Charity had just gone in. She scoots down the wall into a sitting position every limb physically tired, and her head emotionally drained. Andrea sighs to herself looking across the ground. She discovers a different puddle or pile of ash with each foot. Andrea straightens out her legs and looks up at the moon. It's full sitting in the sky like a giant, captivating pearl with a sense of control and grace lingering around it. She smiles, a moon so familiar. Yet, is painfully a stranger nowadays to her.

Andrea squints her eyes at it and puts her hand up as if she was cupping the moon with it. She could almost hold it the moon was so large. She blinks and looks to the stars that twinkle right along side her precious moon. Each star a hope, some fading, others beginning with a bright light that would be blinding up close. 'Why do they have to be so far away?' Andrea ponders looking back to the ground at the darks puddles.

She leans her head up against the brick wall of the cathedral. Andrea can almost feel the two of them walking inside of the cathedral. Andrea lets out an abrupt cough into the cold night air. She quickly covers her mouth and crawls hastily to the right side of the cathedral.

* * *

Charity gulps as the silence drags on. She waits for Ryker to come back into the cathedral. Suddenly, Charity can hear the cathedral doors creak open and then shut.

"Ryker," Charity calls out silently not wanting to bring the wrong attention to her.


	22. Chapter 22

Ryker comes out from behind the wall separating the double doors from the rest of the cathedral. Charity sighs with relief.

"You took a while," Charity says slight irritation in her voice.

Ryker rubs the back of his neck, "Sorry, didn't mean to make you worry so much." Ryker sits back down onto the dusty pew on the right side of the cathedral. Charity sits on the pew in front of his two rows from the first row. She turns on her knees to look at him.

"Well," Charity.

"Well?" Ryker asks.

"Well, will you continue your story," She leans forward slightly.

"Oh, right. Well. Like I said I would come here in a way to clear my mind almost. When things would get hard for me I always had a place to go."

"Why not just go home?"

"Because sometimes that's where the problem was."

Andrea flinches as he says that. Her hands press against the wall trying to get herself closer to the two of them.

"Like what?" Charity asks. Andrea nods wanting to know as well.

Ryker sighs, "I don't want to burden you." Charity rests a hand on top of the back of her pew. He looks at her hand.

"You won't burden me. If it's something you need to get off of your chest, I'm here."

"Thanks. Well, at home. I always felt second best. At first Andrea was better at everything until I took to sword fighting more than she did. That was the only thing I could really feel good about back then. Now, it isn't much different. Except now," He lays his hand on top of hers she looks at his hand that envelopes hers. His hands are warm and rough. Charity looks up at him with a smile on her face urging him to go on. Ryker hesitates and removes his hand.

Charity grabs his hand before it falls back to his lap, "Please, I want to know more about your past here." Ryker looks up at her not shocked by her kindness. Her small hand grips his middle, ring, and pointer finger lightly.

"Well, it didn't help that my father and I were never close. He always had this way about him that made me feel inferior and second best. He liked Andrea better than me. A look in his eye would give it away right when I felt we might be bonding. He just never let himself get close to me. I felt abandoned by him, but my mother certainly helped. She didn't have a favorite. Even if it might have been pity on the younger twin. I could go to her when I needed something more then these colorful windows."

Andrea balls her hands into fists at what he had just said. Her father was a kind, respectable man. If anything she felt he should be grateful that their father died that day and not either of them. 'Why does the root of it seem to be me?' Andrea frowns and stops herself from taking her frustration out on the wall. She can't make noise or they'll know she's there.

"Your mother sounds like a wonderful person. I wish I could have met her," Charity says.

Ryker smiles at Charity, "You two would have gotten along very well." He grabs her hand back.

She smiles and agrees, "If she is anything like you and Andrea I'm sure we would have definitely gotten along."

"It wasn't just my father though, he was just a portion of it," Ryker's eyes trail the pews as if his father was in there with them.

"What's the rest of the portion?"

"The village. Not exactly everyone in the village. Yet, those my family were relatively close to it was easy to tell. Whenever we would see them they would call her name and go to her. I was just her shadow that they hardly regarded. It was hard for me to make friends when she would always end up meeting them. They would eventually choose her. I tried to be more outgoing like her, but then they just said I was mimicking my older sister," Rykers brow furrows as he stares at their hands. Charity releases her grip capturing his attention. He watches as she walks into his pew and sits next to him.

She smiles, "Go on." Charity leans against his arm ready to listen to everything.

"I don't know. I just didn't belong next to her, and I knew I didn't. Yet, how do you get away from something you're connected to. Andrea knows nearly everything that has to do with me. Just as I know seemingly everything that has to do with her. We are twins, technically coming from the same cell that decided to split making two. Sometimes it's nice, but the rest of the time it isn't. These past few days, they've been an oasis in a lifetime of imprisonment. The burden I feel when being something she drags along just for the sake of dragging. It was gone."

Charity smiles lifting her head off of his arm, "I'm glad you enjoyed these days. Even with all of the horrible things going on around us."

Ryker laughs lightly at the hope in her voice and continues, "Charity, you didn't choose her over me. Not even me over her. I think that's what drew me to you. You're open minded about things."

"It wasn't my girlish looks?" Charity teases. Ryker laughs as he shakes his head at her.

He smiles, "No, those are just a plus." Charity blushes, her face warming.

She nudges him lightly and Ryker asks, "Oh, so now you don't like compliments."

"I do it's just, they're different when you say them like that."

"Well, continuing where we left off. This is going to sound ridiculous and completely cliche, but I do think it's true. I was put here on Hydrangea for a reason, but I didn't fully understand that reason. I always thought that it was a mistake that I was here. That I shouldn't have been a twin. It sounds quite selfish when said like that, but I did believe it."

"Did?"

"Yeah, a few years ago I found something. A calling almost. It started as something small, but became much more. It means a lot to me."

"Your sword fighting right?" Charity asks looking up at him. His eyes filled with contentment, pleasure flaring in his eyes.

"No."

Charity furrows her brows in wonder, "Then what is it?" Ryker turns grabbing Charity's shoulder making her jump.

"You know what has been happening to Hydrangea?"

"Yes, Ryker, do you like killing the creatures?"

Ryker shakes his head, "No, no. Charity, I need you to listen and not freak out. Those creatures are my refuge. They destroy just like I wanted to, but they can do it at a greater rate than me. I'm the one who brought them here." Charity's mouth falls slightly agape. Ryker closes her mouth and nods.

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? I hate this place. I was born in the wrong world. The only way to get the attention I missed was this. It was the only option I could think of, and it brought you to me. Charity, this project has given me everything. It's amazing. I couldn't have been more clever, and no one knew. No one suspected, but they were all looking for me. It felt good to have people wanting something from me." Andrea's eyes widen as he says this. She wants to break, and hurt. Yet, that would only satisfy him more. She falls to her knees defeated. 'How?' Andrea shakes her head.

"Even if what they were wanting was for you to be killed?" Charity asks

Ryker smiles, "That's only a small bad fraction of something so good."

"What about your family?"

"I couldn't care less about them. I only kept Andrea around because it was fun to toy with her. Yet, I also got you out of it."

"Your father?"

Ryker nods, "Yes, he ended up dying sooner than I expected. I planned that attack on the village. I didn't think one would try to possess him. Yet, I still got to kill him so it worked out anyway."

"Your mother?" Charity asks knowing the answer.

"She was the hardest to kill. I did it right before I went to go greet you and Andrea. It was painfully easy. She didn't even put up a fight. All she did was look at me knowingly as I threatened her. I'm sure she knew, but she never gave it away. Yet, it had to be done. The smile though that she had on her face. That sad smile, it did get to me a little."

Andrea's eyes spill tears. Their family was killed by one of their own, and he didn't even shed a tear. He wanted all of it and it only made her more angry.

"Wait, if you were just going to kill her. Once you met me what was the point?"

Ryker cups Charity's face with his hands, "For you. I knew she meant a lot to you. So, I let her live." Charity looks into his eyes trying to understand.

"Where will you go though? You've never lived anywhere except for here. What will you do when it's gone?" Charity asks wanting him to stop. She stands and grips her chin in thought as she walks out of the isle. Ryker stands and follows her out of the isle and turns her to face him.

"I'll stay here. Once this world is mine it won't matter that the beings are here. I just need to show them that I own them. That they bow down to me. Can't you see how perfect it would be? No one to judge me. No one to abandon me! It'll be perfect." Ryker smiles the image of it all in his head.

Charity swallows and asks, "Won't you be lonely?"

Ryker shakes his and rests a hand on Charity's shoulder, "No, not as long as you stay here with me." Charity wants to shake her head, but can't move. She's frozen.

"You and I can rein over Hydrangea in any way we want. Together. Doesn't that sound amazing?"

"I- I don't know," Charity mutters.

"We'll be together until the end of time. We would be the rulers of everything I have ever wanted. Don't you want me to be happy?"

Charity looks up into his pleading eyes, "Well of course."

"Then stay. Stay here with me. We can get rid of Andrea. If you don't want we can keep her locked away as a present to you, and i-if that doesn't sound good I'll do it myself. So, you don't have to worry about it. I'll take care of everything, of us." Charity nods and leans into his chest not knowing what else to do. He smiles happily as if the entire world was in her nod.

Andrea frowns at the silence. 'Will he hurt her if she says no? Has she already said no? Is she okay? _Did she say yes_?' Andrea shakes her head at the horrible thoughts coursing through her mind and veins.

Charity looks up at Ryker. A large, homey smile on his face. It even touches his eyes. She wants to be there for him, to help him. Yet, he's too far gone, and there is no help coming.

Charity stands on her toes and wraps her arms around his neck. Ryker brings his hand to her back helping support her. Ryker's smile changes into a bashful one as he knowingly sets her down. Charity arms release his neck as he bends down slightly to her height.

She draws him in with her hand on his cheek and kisses him. Ryker smiles mid kiss, grateful for her. Charity, though, frowns.

Ryker's eyes widen at a sharp pain in his chest. His hand comes to the middle of his chest. Charity's hand grips the handle tightly as she holds it in place. Ryker looks to Charity's face with disbelief.

"I'm sorry," She whimpers tears threatening. Ryker places his bloodied hand on her face cupping it gently.

"It's okay. I asked too much. Sorry, for being a burden," Ryker mutters his blood spilling onto his chest. He falls, the dagger being forcefully ripped by gravity out of his chest. Ryker groans as his body slams onto the ground. Charity drops to her knees and holds his head.

Andrea falls against the wall knowing what has happened. She was happy and sad all at once. It was her brother dying, but also a monster. She covers her mouth before she can let out a scream. Andrea uses the other one to pound on the ground. Andrea stops and stands.

"N-n-no, I'm sorry. Ryker, I'm so sorry. You're right. You deserved more than the life you were given. Yet, before you die. Hydrangea also didn't deserve what you did. There is one more thing I want you to know. One more thing before you go." Rykers eyes look up to hers. The green blurred with tears. His eyes dry and calm as the pain just becomes something that's there. He blinks one last time and his eyes freeze open. The color stays, but all the emotion flees. His body becomes still as its shaking ceases. Charity's eyes widen as her lips tremble.

She chokes out, "I think I might have loved you." His eyes just stare up at the ceiling. The blank nothingness of death overtaking him. Charity pulls him to her as close as she can get to him. His body limp and growing colder doesn't help her efforts. She gulps down more tears threatening to spill. Charity's entire body shakes uncontrollably as she coughs from the tears. She chokes as she continues to pull him into her lap. His head lays on her legs. Charity covers his lifeless eyes with a shaky hand.

"Ryker," She whispers as his body slowly turns to ash. Charity gasps as her eyes widen. 'Why is this happening?' She wants to scream, but her throat is clenched closed tightly. Her hands now hold his ashes as the rest of his ashes scattered over the floor. A breeze enters the room and blows it off of her hands. She chokes again and stands. Charity doesn't brush off her dress or hands. She doesn't even look down at her feet. Yet, she does look at each individual window. The colors faded, their meanings somehow lost.

Charity gulps and walks to the large double doors. She moves slowly letting the night sink in. She tries to let it pass. Yet, she can't. Charity opens the doors and takes a step out of the cathedral.

Andrea stands waiting a few feet from the door. Charity looks to her friend, both with tear stained cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Charity says causing her lower lip to tremble again.

Andrea shakes her head, " _I'm_ sorry." Charity runs into Andrea the both of them hugging each other tightly.


	23. Chapter 23

Charity grabs Andrea tightly her fingers clawing into Andrea's shirt. Andrea sobs onto the top of Charity's shoulder. Charity quietly apologizes into Andrea's shirt for wetting it. Andrea pulls away and lets her arms fall to her side. Charity looks around.

"Everything is gone," Charity mutters looking for the dark puddles that used to be scattered across the ground.

Andrea nods, "It really was him then. I can't believe it. The person responsible was right under my nose." Charity nods and sits down her body tired and limp. Andrea sits next to her letting Charity rest on her shoulder. Charity sniffles and wipes her nose. Andrea pats Charity's back trying to give her some comfort.

"I just want to sleep. Right here," Charity falls back onto the sand, her back sinking into the ground.

Andrea looks to her and says, "At least we can go back in the morning. Don't you want to go home?" Charity turns her head looking at Andrea.

"Yeah, and you're coming with me," Charity says closing her eyes. Andrea smiles.

She looks around and lays down, "That would be nice." The two drift into sleep as the moon sits a quarter away from resting again. Charity turns in her sleep and her arm comes up above her head. Her hand reaching out to the cathedral wanting to grab something that isn't there.

Andrea sits up as the sun rises. Her hair a mess and rocks digging into her skin. Andrea brushes off her arms and combs through her hair. She looks across the ground and area around her. Everything is calm and safe. It was her home, but it was different. The air blows across her cool skin making her shiver slightly. Andrea looks to Charity who is curled up in a fetal position turned toward the rising sun.

"Charity. I would apologize for dragging you into this, but I think you'll understand soon just how much you were really supposed to be here."

Charity turns surprising Andrea, "I don't need to know that I was supposed to be here. I need to know things will be okay. That I can eventually stop shaking every time I think about him."

Andrea swallows, "I thought you were asleep." She rubs her arm. Charity extends her hands. Andrea grabs them and hoists her up. Charity brushes off her knees, her arms, and her dress. Getting rid of the rocks and ashes clinging to her. She can't help but think she is getting rid of _him_. She doesn't want to think of his name, his face, just the way he looks, or even his captivating blue eyes.

Andrea wraps Charity in a hug and ensures, "It wasn't just for nothing, I promise." Charity nods and lets out a sigh. As she lets out a sigh a bird can be heard in the distance. Andrea stiffens at a sweet call that fills the morning air. Her body shakes and she falls to her knees. Charity lifts her back up letting Andrea regain herself.

"I know it wasn't for nothing," Charity pauses for a moment, "I promise." Andrea looks down at Charity to see red eyes, pink cheeks, and a hollow smile. Her lips curved into a hopeful grin, but was filled with enough grief to last a decade.

Andrea smiles back, "Thank you." Charity's smile loses its sadness and she beams up at Andrea.

"You're welcome."

Andrea shakes her head at Charity and says, "I'm glad I didn't send you home right away. I-I wouldn't have been able to… you know. It's just… I should've known."

"I don't blame you for not realizing it. He's your brother, of course, you wouldn't have pointed your finger at him," Charity relays with a confidence.

Andrea shrugs, "Maybe. I guess he didn't really change, he snapped and stayed that same way for years." Charity nods and turns to the cathedral. Her body tenses as if she was facing a life long foe. Charity's lower lip trembles slightly as the night replays in her mind.

"Don't torture yourself."

"It's not torture."

"You're a horrible liar."

"I am not."

Andrea chuckles, "It's good to see you haven't changed too much. Now turn around." Charity slowly turns back around her eyes wet. Andrea shakes her head at her.

"I'm kind of hungry." Charity mutters looking at the sapphire lake. She gasps and gazes at the entrancing blue water that waves slowly, and pleasantly. The sunrise reflects on the deep blue creating shimmers of orange, yellow, and pink across the waves.

Andrea smiles happily, "I told you it was amazing." Charity nods and takes a step towards it. The water's waves calling out to her. She gulps at the vastness of its beauty.

"It's like a jewel," Charity mutters her voice hardly above a whisper.

Andrea nods knowingly, "I know. It definitely lives up to its name." Andrea grasps her opal necklace. She wishes silently that her mother could see this.

"Come on. We can grab something to eat on the way back home," Andrea says. Charity turns and nods.

Charity picks up the bag, "I don't want moon drops though."

"Of course. I wouldn't either," Andrea murmurs grabbing the bag.

"Andrea."

"Yeah?"

"I think we should get rid of that bag."

"Agreed," Andrea says tossing the bag at the doors of the cathedral. The bag bangs against it creating a loud noise. Charity flinches at the sound, the bag falls to the ground creating a smack.

"Let's go,"Charity says looking away. Andrea nods and they begin to walk towards Radiate Forest.

They enter the forest and Andrea looks under multiple bushes.

"What are you doing?" Charity asks questioning Andrea's sanity.

"Looking for something."

"Yep," Charity says to herself determining Andrea's insanity.

Andrea pulls something from the ground. She holds it up for Charity to see. Andrea was holding the vegetable from the green leaves that stick out of the ground. Charity looks closer at it, the vegetable looks like a red tuna can with spikes lining the bottom ridge.

"What is that," Charity says poking one of the spikes. The rough skin of it rubs against her finger.

Andrea stands, "This is a vegetable only found in crowded areas in the Radiate Forest. The name it was given is, Fallen Crown."

Charity nods and grabs the vegetable handed to her. Charity carefully wipes away the dirt from it's sides and bottom. She takes a bite as Andrea returns to looking for another. Charity's looks at the vegetable as she chews. She swallows as the savory taste lingers in her mouth.

"It tastes almost exactly like tomato soup," Charity says taking another bite. She sighs at the familiar and delightful taste.

Andrea smiles victoriously grabbing another one, "They also are great for healing burns. Too bad they're hard to find."

Charity smiles, "This is really good." Her mouth waters as she thinks of a bowl of warm tomato soup sitting next to a plate of grilled cheese. She takes another bite.

They finish eating and continue walking. The forest around them noticeably calmer and more peaceful. Charity sighs happily as she looks around the improved forest. The leaves glow a brighter green as it seems the forest got healthier overnight.

"It looks even more beautiful," Charity says looking through the leaves up to the sky. The sky getting brighter with every minute.

Andrea smiles looking around, "It's hard to imagine isn't it?" Charity nods and looks to her left to see a wooden wall in the distance. She stops and looks at it, her eyes boring into the light wooden walls. Andrea looks back at Charity who has abruptly halted. Andrea turns following Charity's eyes. Her own land on the right side of her mother's house.

"Oh."

"Andrea, we should keep going."

Andrea puts her hand up, "No, we should leave our weapons somewhere anyways." Charity nods and walks towards the shack. Andrea sighs and begins walking at Charity's side. Each step they get closer to the inevitable grief coating the shack. Andrea gulps at the sight of the front porch. She can feel the sadness enveloping the area around them.

"I regret my decision," Andrea says turning around. Charity grabs Andrea's arm and steps onto the porch. Andrea groans and steps up onto the porch.

"See together we can help each other overcome anything." Charity finishes her thought and then continues after seeing Andrea stare at her showing no emotion on her face, "Or at least that's how I feel."

Andrea was looking at Charity but yet she wasn't, because she was deep in thought about everything. Had she overcome all of it with Charity's help? Charity helped her keep moving when her mom died, whenever _he_ had gotten hurt she was there, and when she was in the tunnel Charity was _really_ worried. Unlike _him_.

"Don't worry, I feel the same," Andrea mutters.

They walk into the house and set their weapons on the counter. Charity pulls her dagger out of the soft pink pocket. Andrea removes the sheath and sword from the belt relieving the wait on her hip. Just as Andrea was walking back out of the shack Charity ran back to the hall and disappears into Andrea's room.

"Charity?"

"Almost done," Charity replies, her voice muffled through the door. Charity throws on her tank top. She opens the door folding the pink dress in her arms.

"Why did you change into those?" Andrea says raising an eyebrow at the pajamas.

"I might be able to sneak in and no one in my family will have to know. I don't want to explain it all. So, this is the best way to avoid the questions that might lead to me talking about it." Charity says with too many hand movements.

Andrea shakes her head, "Alright, let's go then."

They step out of the kitchen and onto the porch. A breeze picks up and blows around them. The door flies open behind them as the wind enters the stale house. Andrea looks back into the house to see her sword shining in the sunlight coming in.

"It feels weird to leave it behind," Andrea mutters.

Charity looks to Andrea, "I wouldn't know what that's like, but it's okay now. You don't need it anymore." Andrea nods and looks to the left. She walks off the porch and looks to where the ground rises slightly in a wave. The flower blown off sits next to the grave. Andrea sighs and picks up the flower. She sets it in the middle of the grave. The white petals weak as the flower slowly begins to decay.

Charity steps off the porch and kneels next to the grave. She puts her hands together and whispers into the wind. Andrea looks to Charity and kneels next to her and does the same. Charity stands and waves a small goodbye to the grave. Andrea stands at the head of the grave looking down at it.

"Mom. We did it. It was Ryker the entire time. You knew that though didn't you? The sad smile you had, it should have been obvious, huh? Well, bye," Andrea mutters feeling her mother with her at that moment.

Andrea turns to see Charity watching her from a distance. She begins to walk forward. Then looks over her shoulder at the grave.

"Love you."

"Come on," Charity calls her hands around her mouth attempting to be louder. Andrea looks back and jogs lightly to Charity's side.

"Ready?" Andrea asks.

"Readier then you are."

"That isn't possible. You're never prepared."

"What?" Charity demands. Andrea just laughs at her and continues to walk. Charity frowns and walks slightly faster to get to Andrea's left side. Andrea looks down at her with a wide smile on her face. Charity's frown falters and she grins back at her.

The two walk through the quiet, serene forest watching the wildlife that survived poke their little heads out to explore the clean environment around them.

Andrea looks around feeling a slight shift in the air around her. She looks forward, past trees and shrubs to see a large hydrangea bush. Andrea smiles at it. It meant home for Charity and an escape for Andrea.

"I can see it right up ahead," Andrea points.

Charity follows Andrea's finger to the bright purple flowers beyond, "I forget how pretty they are." As they get closer each separate pastel purple petal is more obvious. The bushes mass holds more leaves than flowers, encapsulating the purple with a lush green. Charity smiles wanting to bring her family here. Wanting to see her sister's face when she realizes what Hydrangea holds.

"Aren't you excited?" Andrea asks Charity. Charity looks to Andrea as if her answer was clearly obvious.

"Yes. It's just where will you go. Nobody knows it's safe to come back. Won't you be alone?"

"No. I know that for sure."

Charity smiles at Andrea's confidence, "Well if you say so. What are we waiting for?"

"For you. Charity, would you rather stay here? Or stay at the home you have there?"

Charity looks around her, "That should be an easy question. I just feel so drawn to this place. The sky, the lake, the forests, even the empty grassland. The village would look amazing rebuilt, and I still haven't explored the extent of what I can do as a nymph. I would also like to see a mermaid."

"Okay, okay. You can't avoid my question forever. Where would you rather stay?"

"Ugh! So much has happened here with you, with me, with Ry-. I don't know, it's hard to say. My family is there, but my spirit is here. I really like Hydrangea. I feel it's where I belong."

Andrea smiles, "That's all I needed to hear." Charity looks to Andrea just as she grabs onto Charity's hand.

Charity smiles, "Let's go." They fall back into the plant together, just like before.


	24. Chapter 24

Charity's vision goes black as she get's sucked back to the place she has known her entire life. She feels a slight shaking. Her eyes open and squint at the sudden light. She covers her eyes and slowly lets them adjust to the soft, spring sun. Charity moves her hand to see Andrea.

"If you don't want to pass out every time then you have to really concentrate on what you're doing."

"Andrea, what time is it?" Charity asks looking around them. Her eyes land on a mother playing with a small boy on the metal slide. The two slide down together shouting their excitement as they squeak down the slide. The boy lets out a sweet laugh of approval and turns spotting the girls sitting next to the hydrangea plant. The boy has light brown hair with big, dark brown eyes. He smiles at them just as his mother scoops him into her arms planting motherly kisses on top of his head. He squeals happily at his mother and squirms in her arms.

Andrea smiles at the two, "It's about 7 o'clock." Charity's eyes widen.

Andrea raises an eyebrow and asks, "What?"

Charity facepalms her forehead, "I have no chance of sneaking in."

"Why?"

"My mother wakes me up at 5:30, she knows," Charity mutters. Andrea curses under her breath and stands up from her spot on the ground.

"Here," Andrea offers holding her hands out for Charity. Charity grabs her hands and Andrea hoists her up onto her feet. Charity looks to the little boy running around the playground with his mother close behind. Charity smiles warmly at them and sees Andrea and herself doing the same thing when they were younger.

"I always wondered why Ryker wasn't like that."

Charity looks to Andrea, "You can't blame yourself."

"Yeah I can, and I will."

"You aren't the one to blame. Those who decided to alienate him are. _Not_ you," Charity states crossing her arms. Andrea looks to Charity with uncertainty.

"We should go," Andrea says looking away from Charity. Charity nods and follows Andrea toward home. Instead of running this time they walk enjoying the sweet smell of flowers nearby. Andrea sneezes into her elbow.

"I hate the amount of pollen near your house," Andrea complains.

Charity laughs and runs a hand through her hair, "Ugh, I want a shower more now than ever."

Andrea laughs, "You could have said that before we left, the forests have various spots near the lake where there are waterfalls. We could have at least gotten somewhat cleaner."

"Do you guys have shampoo?"

"Not really."

"Conditioner?"

"Again, not exactly."

Charity groans, "What do you mean? If I ever go to Hydrangea I would like to keep my hair soft and shiny."

"Well, we make our own. The herbalist's do most of the work by choosing scents and the different plants to use," Andrea explains.

Charity looks to Andrea, "If the people at school saw you in those."

"I would be socially dead to them," Andrea says knowingly.

Charity giggles and lightens the blow, "I mean they aren't that bad, but I mean. You know."

Andrea shakes her head, "Yes I know." The two look up at the back of Charity's house the fence as high as Charity remembers it.

"Can't we go in from the front this time?" Charity asks glaring at the tall fence.

Andrea shrugs and complies, "I don't see why not. Your mom already knows that you're gone. I wonder…" Charity raises an eyebrow at Andrea and walks around the fence. Charity runs her hand across the wood looking at the brick wall of her neighbor's house. She smiles at it.

"Holy…," Andrea mutters. Charity turns to her just to see exactly what she meant. A line of cars were parked right next to the house.

"It goes all the way down the block," Charity exclaims. Andrea nods.

Andrea inhales and exhales deeply, "Well let's see how welcoming they'll be." The two step onto the porch as they have done many times before. Charity rests her hand on the handle. She looks to Andrea and opens the door. The door opens revealing a house covered in people. Charity recognizes aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Those only making up a fourth of those in front of her.

Andrea looks in and gasps. Everyone in front of her she has seen before. 'They're all here, it's been so long, but they're all here. Finally.'

"Mom," Charity calls out when she sees her mother walk into the living room. Her mother, Daleen, turns her head immediately at the sound of her daughter's voice. Daleen pushes through the crowd of people capturing their attention. Everyone in front of Charity and Andrea look to the door. They look over the two girls and smile happily.

Daleen captures Charity in a tight hug. Charity gasps and inhales deeply before she can't anymore. When she does she inhales the sweet lavender scent her mother always wears. Charity gasps again at the familiar smell letting all the air out. Her lip trembles as she tightly hugs her mother back.

"I missed you so much," Charity mutters. Her mother nods knowingly.

"You must have been through a lot in four days."

Charity looks up at her mother, "What?"

Her mother ignores the question and looks to Andrea. Andrea looks to the wooden floor, rubbing her arm. Daleen wraps Andrea in a motherly hug. Andrea's eyes fly open as she stands frozen in Daleen's comforting arms.

"How's your mother?" Daleen asks pulling away. Andrea looks into Daleen's kind hazel eyes with her own watery ones. Daleen's eyes open larger with a gasp as she shakes her head.

"You poor thing," Daleen wraps Andrea in another bear hug. Andrea wraps her arms lightly around the motherly figure.

"So is Ryker," Andrea whispers into Daleen's ear.

Daleen's eyes stay widened, "What happened?"

Andrea sighs shakily, "It was him Daleen. The entire time."

"Oh, my," She whispers to Andrea. Andrea nods and pulls out of the hug.

Charity raises her hand in an interjection, "Can someone fill me in on what's going on?"

"That's a very long story. Starting around the time you were born," Daleen says moving a hand to her hip.

"16 years ago!" Charity exclaims.

Daleen laughs filling the air with a methodical sound, "Back in Hydrangea. Before everything bad happened. I was given a boy, your older brother. Then you, the prophecy child."

"Wait, hold on, what?" Charity questions.


	25. Epilogue

Charity leaves the village. As her younger sister runs around Andrea, and her mother tends to elderly. Charity's father talks to people about reconstruction, and her older brother helps some fey rebuild. She walks down to the grasslands. The grass a vibrant green and the sky a captivating blue. Charity takes a deep breath of the fresh, clean air. She walks feeling her feet sink slightly into the grass and nutrient rich soil.

Charity sighs as everything spills out of her at that moment. Her mind fills with wants and clutters her heart with them. Charity's eyes yearn for a tear to drop, but nothing comes.

Hydrangea and apparently everything in it sees Charity as its hero. 'What have I done to deserve to be called a hero?' Charity looks back at the village.

"I killed my best friends twin and my first kiss. Now Andrea has nothing left of her family, and is being blamed for everything Ryker did," Charity says to herself listing the things wrong.

She shakes her head continuing to walk across the grasslands. Passing new crop fields. They show promise as green begins to sprout. The nymphs are still settling into the trees and haven't gotten a chance to tend to them. The grass is wet in some areas due to the merfolk giving the crops controlled rain.

Charity smiles at the amount of potential that Hydrangea holds. It helps to have the capability of all the people here. They have so much hope and love for this place. Charity reaches down and grabs some damp dirt and lets it roll off of her hand. She brushes her hand off on her new dress.

It's purple with an off shoulder top and an a-line skirt that ends above her knees. She happily puts her hands in its added pockets. Her hand lands on the leather sheath that holds the thing she used to ki-. Charity shakes her head and pulls her hands out of her pockets.

She stops and grabs the blue hydrangea flower from her ponytail. Charity's mom put it there using it as a bow. She twirls the short stem in between her thumb and pointer finger. Charity falls to her knees in front of a large stone that covers the ashes of a lost soul. She lays it down next to the stone. The text carved onto it replaying in her mind. She uses it as a reminder. That what was done is done, and she did the right thing. Charity gulps as the text continues repeating in her mind until it comes out of her mouth.

"Ryker Rille. May your sins rest peacefully with you," Charity's lips tremble slightly at the cold aura around the words.


End file.
